So Who Are BlackRock?
Subscribers might like to read an edited version of this article, which appeared earlier this month in the Conservative Woman, under a different title preferred by the publication:
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/blackrock-wokery-and-the-ousting-of-truss/
Here is the article as originally prepared:
So Who Are BlackRock?
For those who like to delve beyond the soundbites and into who actually is driving the economic, political and social forces in our countries, a new name has come to the fore in recent months. During the last decade or so we've become familiar with the World Economic Forum, Common Purpose and George Sorus' Open Society Foundation, amongst others. Now we have BlackRock but who exactly are BlackRock?
Based in New York City, BlackRock are a major investment asset corporation, said to have over 10 trillion dollars in assets under it's management, owning stakes in more than 14,000 companies worldwide . Founded as recently as 1988, BlackRock have grown into the world’s largest financial adviser, with millions of people invested in the stock market via its index-tracking funds. BlackRock was publicly listed for the first time in 1999 at $14 a share on the New York Stock Exchange. By the end of that year BlackRock was already managing $165 billion in assets.
It is BlackRock's political ties, influence and involvement however, that have proved more contentious. Those include it's involvement with the US Federal Reserve both during the 2008 banking crisis and assisting with US Central Bank bond purchasing during the 2020 Covid crisis A crack team inside the firm counsels heads of state, central banks and financial institutions in times of crisis. It has recently held video conferences with President Zelensky of Ukraine, having offered their services "pro bono" regarding investment sources for the rebuilding of Ukraine.
Other major clients it has given risk analysis, stress tests and asset valuation to include the European Central Bank, the Greek government, the Vatican and big US.banks and other financial institutions, including Citibank, State Street and American Express.
BlackRock's own website boldly proclaims their commitment to "corporate sustainability", "investment stewardship", and "sustainable investing".
Any look at BlackRock would not be complete without a look at it's CEO, Larry Fink. Fink also sits on the board of the World Economic Forum. Born, raised and educated in California, Fink himself proudly proclaimed in 2019 that corporations and their CEOs must actively take the lead when governments fail to address social and political issues. To that end, BlackRock have been actively severing their previous ties with the fossil fuel industry.
Earlier this year Fink sent an open letter to the CEOs of the businesses his clients have stakeholdings in, stating he expected to see a "decarbonising" of the global economy and that "access to capital is not a right. It is a privilege. And the duty to attract that capital in a responsible and sustainable way lies with you". He further asserted that businesses were expected to play a role in "decarbonizing the global economy" and that few things will impact capital allocation decisions – and thereby the long-term value of companies – more than how effectively they navigated the global energy transition in the years ahead..
https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/investor-relations/larry-fink-ceo-letter
The letter has led to a major falling out between BlackRock and a number of American states with 19 American state attorneys responding by accusing BlackRock of actively pressuring companies to phase out fossil fuels to the detriment of states that depend on the oil-and-gas industry. And from the other side of the debate New York City’s comptroller suggested BlackRock was retreating from its climate promises. All part of the inevitable fallout from BlackRock's perceived anti energy stance. BlackRock have even been moved to publicly deny it is hostile to the energy sector and to plea it is just being used as a political punch bag.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/blackrock-walks-a-political-tightrope-on-climate-issues-11665279040
BlackRock has announced it's full support for ongoing diversity commitments, declaring in December 2021 that it wants US companies to aim for corporate boards that are 30% diverse, including a minimum of two women and at least one member from an "under-represented group".
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/blackrock-adds-diversity-target-us-boardrooms-2021-12-14/
BlackRock are also heavily involved in the Charity sector, managing over £4.5 billions for over 3,000 UK charities alone. They state on their charities section of their website that "Sustainability", food security and renewable energy rank very highly in their priorities in that sector.
The role of BlackRock in the recent selling off of derivatives by UK Pension Funds said to be behind the triggering of a fall in sterling following the ill-fated Kwasi Kwarteng mini budget is an intriguing one. BlackRock would defend their actions by stating they were merely protecting clients who were financially overcommitted in that sector and that Pension Fund managers ought to have known the risks involved in leveraged investment strategies in the first place and that there is far more to that type of riskier investment than just following trends. Either way the political fallout was profound, triggering a chain of events that led to the fall of a newly installed UK Government, that of then Prime Minister Liz Truss.
https://www.ft.com/content/e2dfb060-a578-45a1-865f-e2e05d86990a
A business with the financial resources of BlackRock will naturally attract some very highly connected people to it's payroll. People such as Rupert Harrison, formerly chief of staff to former Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, from 2006 to 2015,.he then moved on to become a portfolio executive at BlackRock. An opponent of Brexit, he tweeted in July 2017 that "the rest of Europe is booming and we're not".
Now intriguingly, Harrison is back as one of Jeremy Hunt's most senior advisors. Hunt seemed on the surface to have been parachuted in from nowhere having failed in two leadership elections and having spent more than two years on the Backbenches, yet from the moment he was appointed he already had a highly expert team, including Harrison, ready to start at once and acted promptly with great self assurance as though he knew he already had the backing of those who really matter.
Given Harrison's own declared hostility to Brexit and BlackRock's own opposition to fossil fuels it will be interesting to observe both the direction dealings with the EU take and how long the short-lived Truss administration's aim of allowing new shale gas and oil licences lasts under the new administration, especially after several years of such licences being actively discouraged in Westminster and Whitehall. Those of us with a long term record of supporting Brexit and who can see and fear the consequences of the switch away from fossil fuel sources can only despair.
(My sources for this article include the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Wikipedia, Twitter, Financial News and most importantly, BlackRock's own website, blackrock.com)