Subject: Mark Wilson

Subject of Interest

Mark Wilson serves on the Board of Directors at BlackRock, Inc. Wilson served as the Chief Executive Officer of Aviva plc, a multinational insurance company headquartered in the UK, from January 2013 to October 2018. Prior to joining Aviva, he worked in Asia for 14 years, including as Chief Executive Officer of AIA Group Limited, a leading pan-Asian company. He graduated from the University of Waikato. 

Biography

Black Rock, Inc 

Article: How the COVID-19 Bailout Gave Wall Street a No-Lose Casino

Article - Media

How the COVID-19 Bailout Gave Wall Street a No-Lose Casino

While ordinary Americans face record unemployment and loss, the COVID-19 bailout has saved the very rich

Matt Taibbi

Rolling Stone, 13 May 2020

This financial economy is a fantasy casino, where the winnings are real but free chips cover the losses. For a rarefied segment of society, failure is being written out of the capitalist bargain.

Continue reading “Article: How the COVID-19 Bailout Gave Wall Street a No-Lose Casino”

Subject: Dr. Navneet Arora

Subject of Interest

Dr. Navneet Arora Is head of Quantitive Strategies at Citadel. Prior to joining Citadel, served as Director of Quantitative Research at American Century Investments. Previously, he served as Managing Director and Global Head of Model-Based Credit Research at BlackRock and as Global Head of Credit Research at Barclays Global Investors. Dr. Arora’s publishes in academic and practitioner journals, including Journal of Financial Economics, Review of Accounting StudiesJournal of Investment Management, and Energy Risk. Dr. Arora received a Ph.D. in finance from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, a post-graduate degree from Indian Institute of Management.

Continue reading “Subject: Dr. Navneet Arora”

Article: Fund giant BlackRock issues stewardship playbook as a proxy-season test and SEC rulings loom

Article - Media, Publications

Fund giant BlackRock issues stewardship playbook as a proxy-season test and SEC rulings loom

Rachel Koning Beals, 18 March 2020

Fund giant BlackRock has released its stewardship playbook, a rough plan that furthers the industry-rattling pledge for sustainability from its leader Larry Fink earlier this year. Continue reading “Article: Fund giant BlackRock issues stewardship playbook as a proxy-season test and SEC rulings loom”

Article: Court Dismisses Some FX Rigging Claims Against Credit Suisse

Article - Media, Publications

Court Dismisses Some FX Rigging Claims Against Credit Suisse

Aziz Abdel-Qader, 04 September 2019

A New York judge overseeing litigation accusing 16 banks of rigging prices in the foreign exchange market on Wednesday narrowed, but refused to dismiss antitrust lawsuits against Credit Suisse Group AG.

A group of investors has sued the global banks back in May for allegedly rigging prices for their own benefit by sharing confidential orders and trading positions. Continue reading “Article: Court Dismisses Some FX Rigging Claims Against Credit Suisse”

Article: The Backlash to Larry Fink’s Letter Shows How Far Business Has to Go on Social Responsibility

Article - Media, Publications

The Backlash to Larry Fink’s Letter Shows How Far Business Has to Go on Social Responsibility

Mark R. Kramer, 31 January 2019

Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest investor with $6 trillion under management, evoked heated controversy with his remarks last week that his company would change its hiring and potentially its compensation structure to advance diversity and ensure that five years from now the company is not just “a bunch of white men.” This follows on the heels of his annual letter to CEOs asserting that companies need to embrace a purpose beyond just profit maximization. Continue reading “Article: The Backlash to Larry Fink’s Letter Shows How Far Business Has to Go on Social Responsibility”

Article: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Tells Corporate CEOs to Engage in Better Eyewash

Article - Media, Publications

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Tells Corporate CEOs to Engage in Better Eyewash

Yves Smith, 21 January 2019

One of the sorry spectacles of modern life is having prominent individuals who profit from and serve as prime exemplars of major social ills trying to depict themselves as part of the solution, when they haven’t gone through any sort of Damascene conversion o give their virtue-signalling even a thin veneer of legitimacy. Today’s object lesson is Larry Fink, the Chairman and CEO of the ginormous fund manager BlackRock (not to be confused with the private equity/alternative asset manager Blackstone). BlackRock, with $6.2 trillion under management as of October, 2018, is the largest asset manager in the world,. Continue reading “Article: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Tells Corporate CEOs to Engage in Better Eyewash”

Article: The Fake Larry Fink Letter That Duped Reporters

Article - Media, Publications

The Fake Larry Fink Letter
That Duped Reporters

Alicia McElhaney, 16 January 2019

Asset management giant BlackRock is investigating a fake letter sent to reporters by someone posing as the firm’s chief executive officer Larry Fink, a spokesperson said Wednesday. “Don’t be fooled by imitations…Larry’s real CEO letter coming soon,” BlackRock tweeted Wednesday. The Financial Times was duped by the letter, which focused on climate change, a report from the news outlet said Wednesday. Continue reading “Article: The Fake Larry Fink Letter That Duped Reporters”

Article: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink earns recognition as a climate fraud

Article - Media, Publications

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink earns recognition as a climate fraud

Friends of the Earth International, 31 October 2018

NEW YORK– In recognition for his outstanding contribution to climate change, the activist group Friends of the Earth U.S. today presented BlackRock CEO Larry Fink with a “climate fraud” award. BlackRock holds more stock in companies contributing to climate change than any other company in the world. Continue reading “Article: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink earns recognition as a climate fraud”

Article: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Wants a Kinder, Gentler Capitalism. He Should Look At His Own Investments.

Article - Media, Publications

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Wants a Kinder, Gentler Capitalism. He Should Look At His Own Investments.

Derek Seidman, 18 January 2018

Larry D. Fink may be the most powerful investor in the world. As founder and CEO of BlackRock, he oversees the investment of around $6 trillion – yes, trillion – in funds. When Fink talks, companies listen. Now Fink appears to be trying to wield BlackRock’s influence for good. In a letter he drafted that he’s sending to CEOs, Fink writes:

“Society is demanding that companies, both public and private, serve a social purpose. To prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance, but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society.” Continue reading “Article: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Wants a Kinder, Gentler Capitalism. He Should Look At His Own Investments.”

Article: BlackRock CEO: Bitcoin is an index of money laundering

Article - Media, Publications

BlackRock CEO: Bitcoin is an index of money laundering

ALI BRELAND, 13 October 2017

Larry Fink, CEO of the investment management company BlackRock, hammered bitcoin on Friday. “Bitcoin just shows you how much demand for money laundering there is in the world,” Fink said at the Institute of International Finance on Friday. “It’s an index of money laundering. That’s all it is.” Continue reading “Article: BlackRock CEO: Bitcoin is an index of money laundering”

Article: BlackRock, PIMCO said to plan new front in bank FX-rigging cases

Article - Media, Publications

BlackRock, PIMCO said to plan new front in bank FX-rigging cases

Bloomberg, 05 March 2017

Some of the world’s biggest investors are working with a U.S. law firm to prepare a fresh wave of litigation against banks accused of rigging foreign-exchange markets.

BlackRock, Pacific Investment Management Co. and hedge fund BlueCrest Capital Management are working with law firm Quinn Emanuel to recover losses they blame on the manipulation of currency benchmarks, according to two people familiar with the case, who asked not to be identified because nothing has been filed.

The target banks, including Barclays, Citigroup, HSBC Holdings, J.P. Morgan Chase, Royal Bank of Scotland Group and UBS Group, have been fined billions of dollars for conspiring to rig FX benchmarks. The firm, which will probably file lawsuits in London and New York, is trying to attract additional investors, the people said.

Quinn Emanuel’s clients will likely opt out of an existing New York class action over currency manipulation that won a total of about $2 billion in settlements from HSBC, Barclays, RBS, Goldman Sachs Group and others in 2015, according to people with knowledge of the firm’s strategy.

Opting out of the class action would allow large investors to seek higher settlements by pursuing a global strategy that includes the recovery of losses from London, where a significant portion of global trades are settled. The existing class action is limited to transactions that took place in New York.

The two law firms that are running the existing U.S. lawsuit, Hausfeld and Scott + Scott, won’t give up control of the case without a fight.

In an April 24 letter emailed to U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield, lawyers complained that “certain unnamed law firms were sending false and misleading communications to class members to persuade them to opt out of the settlements,” the judge said in a court order Thursday. She set a May 12 deadline for the two firms to make a formal request as to what she should do in response.

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