Table Of Content2
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N 2015
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U ANNUAL
A
L R REPORT
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R
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BlackRock’s foundation, built on a diverse
global investment platform, commitment
to technology and risk management
and a principled fiduciary culture, drives
our ability to anticipate and adapt ahead
of change to create better financial futures
for our clients.
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GLOBAL INVESTMENT PLATFORM
BLACKROCK’S FOUNDATION BUILT FOR CHANGE
At BlackRock, our goal is to create better financial futures for our
clients—and their clients—from institutions, corporations and
governments to individuals planning for retirement and saving for
their children’s college educations.
We do this by providing investment advice and managing investment
strategies across one of the deepest, broadest investment platforms
in the financial services industry.
BREADTH AND DEPTH OF DIVERSE INVESTMENT PLATFORM
BlackRock offers clients a full range of investment solutions across styles, asset classes and
regions, extensive market insights and industry-leading risk management and analytical
capabilities supported by Aladdin.® BlackRock’s investment management teams span Alpha and
Beta Strategies, including fundamental and quantitative equity and fixed income, Multi-Asset,
Alternative and Trading & Liquidity Strategies, with more than 1,800 investment professionals
in more than 25 investment centers around the world.
INDEX & iSHARES®
iSHARES
Chart above reflects mix of assets under management by style, asset class, client type and region.
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BlackRock’s clients trust us to
manage more money than any other
investment firm in the world. Our
diverse global investment platform
positions us to focus on what our
clients need, when they need it.
Statement above based on
AUM as of 12/31/15.
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GLOBAL INVESTMENT PLATFORM
BLACKROCK’S FOUNDATION BUILT FOR CHANGE
Changes in the investment landscape are prompting investors
to search for new sources of return. And changes in demographics,
environmental issues and government regulation are driving an
increasing number of investors to portfolios that simultaneously
generate positive social or environmental impact. Building on
the strength of our global investment platform, BlackRock continues
to make investments in our platform to provide our clients with
solutions for their changing needs.
SUSTAINABLE INVESTING
Launched in 2015, BlackRock’s sustainable investing platform provides clients with a
range of sustainable investment strategies across asset classes, investment vehicles and
impact profiles. With more than $200 billion in sustainable assets under management,
BlackRock leverages our differentiated investment platform, proprietary technology,
data analytics, deep environmental, social and governance (ESG) expertise and culture of
innovation to offer our institutional and retail clients access to:
• Exclusionary screens that avoid specific companies or industries not aligned with
investors’ values (e.g., alcohol, tobacco, firearms, fossil fuels)
• ESG factor strategies that incorporate environmental, social and governance factors
to identify investment risks and opportunities
• Impact investments that target measurable social or environmental outcomes and
financial returns
FACTOR INVESTING
Factors drive risk and return in portfolios. Factor investing—a time-tested concept now
taken to new levels by advances in technology—is a framework that empowers investors by
identifying and precisely targeting broad, persistent and long-recognized drivers of return.
Leveraging a world-class research team and strong history of expertise in systematic
strategies, BlackRock offers a range of solutions from smart beta to enhanced-factor
strategies designed to help investors pursue specific objectives. BlackRock manages
more than $125 billion in factor-based strategies.
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INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTING
Infrastructure investments can provide clients with long-duration income, uncorrelated
returns, inflation protection, diversification and the potential for capital appreciation while
providing economies with economic growth, job creation and in many cases promoting
sustainability and providing other social benefits.
BlackRock has grown our infrastructure platform to more than $8.7 billion in assets,
including one of the industry’s leading renewable power franchises, a premier infrastructure
debt platform and an innovative Infrastructure Solutions business. In 2015, we developed
our footprint in Latin America through the acquisition of I Cuadrada, one of Mexico’s leading
infrastructure investment firms.
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INNOVATION IN TECHNOLOGY
AND RISK MANAGEMENT
BLACKROCK’S FOUNDATION BUILT FOR CHANGE
BlackRock was founded on the idea that technology can help
us better understand and manage risk in our clients’ portfolios.
The combined power of human insight, financial science and
technology at the heart of our business enables us to solve our
clients’ most complex investment challenges.
ALADDIN: BLACKROCK’S UNIFYING TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM
Aladdin is BlackRock’s investment and risk management technology platform. It unites the
information, people and technology needed to manage money on a single platform, and helps
facilitate better decision-making, more effective risk management and more efficient
trading by investment professionals. In addition to supporting BlackRock’s asset management
business, Aladdin and its risk analytics are relied on by more than 160 institutions around the
world to manage and monitor their own investment portfolios.
ALADDIN COMBINES
COMPREHENSIVE PORTFOLIO
SOPHISTICATED RISK +
MANAGEMENT, TRADING AND
ANALYTICS
OPERATIONAL TOOLS
TO DELIVER BETTER RESULTS FOR ITS 20,000 USERS
FOCUS ON RISK & QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS (“RQA”)
BlackRock’s independent RQA team partners with investment, operational and technology
professionals to ensure deliberate, diversified and scaled risk-taking in our clients’
portfolios. Our risk management philosophy is rooted in a culture of constructive challenge
and is a prime example of the benefits of technology and people working together. This helps
BlackRock set the standard for risk management, analytics and investment technology.
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CHARLIE HALLAC
CO-PRESIDENT
IN MEMORIAM 7
INNOVATION IN TECHNOLOGY
AND RISK MANAGEMENT
BLACKROCK’S FOUNDATION BUILT FOR CHANGE
Technology is democratizing access to information that was previously
inaccessible and changing the way consumers engage with the
world, including how they interact with their investment portfolios.
In 2015, BlackRock continued to make investments in technology
to better serve our clients —most notably through investing
in technology that expands our intermediary partners’ reach and
investment management capabilities and harnessing big data
to generate alpha.
FUTUREADVISOR: ENHANCING DIGITAL WEALTH MANAGEMENT
In 2015, BlackRock acquired FutureAdvisor, a leading digital wealth management platform
whose technology-enabled advice capabilities include:
• Personalized advice across the breadth of clients’ existing investment accounts
• Tax-efficient portfolio management
• Mobile and desktop interface, online account enrollment and multi-custodian support
Building on BlackRock’s diverse investment platform, Aladdin risk analytics, proprietary retire-
ment technology and experience as a long-standing enterprise technology partner, FutureAdvisor
and BlackRock’s combined solution can accelerate our intermediary partner firms’ abilities
to deliver high-quality, technology-enabled advice to an increasing number of investors.
LEVERAGING BIG DATA TO GENERATE ALPHA
Every second, the world is generating massive amounts of data. BlackRock’s ability to
analyze data is increasing as computing power continues to grow—creating new opportunities
to generate consistent, differentiated alpha for our clients across quantitative and
fundamental investment styles.
BlackRock’s sophisticated machine learning and text analysis algorithms search for investment
signals by sifting through vast amounts of public data and aggregating millions of viewpoints
within seconds, enabling us to respond quickly to opportunities that other investors may
overlook. We leverage insights from the analysis of big data across our investment platform
with the goal of enhancing alpha generation for our clients.
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Description:1 BlackRock’s foundation, built on a diverse . global investment platform, commitment to technology and risk management. and a . principled fiduciary culture
