We have repeatedly warned about the problem of index funds, including VEA Chair Robert A.G. Monks’ book Citizens Disunited, with extensive data on “drone” companies (with stock ownership tracking the index) and VEA Vice Chair Nell Minow was one of the judges who selected Index Funds and the Future of Corporate Governance: Theory, Evidence and…
Category: blackrock
Blackrock’s Larry Fink: Letter to CEOs
Blackrock’s Larry Fink wrote to the portfolio company CEOs to tell them that investors insist on more from them when it comes to climate change, from disclosure to strategy. Bottom line (literally): “Climate risk is investment risk.” Here is the letter: Dear CEO, As an asset manager, BlackRock invests on behalf of others, and I…
BlackRock’s Larry Fink: Climate change risk worse than Great Recession
BlackRock Chairman and CEO Larry Fink is warning that the financial risks of climate change are bigger than any crisis he’s experienced in his career on Wall Street. “We don’t have a Federal Reserve to stabilize the world like in the five or six financial crises that occurred during my 40 years in finance,” the…
BlackRock Joins World’s Largest Investor Group on Climate Change – WSJ
BlackRock Inc. said Thursday that it has joined Climate Action 100+, the world’s largest group of investors by assets pressuring companies to act on climate change, following criticism that the money manager hasn’t done enough to move the needle. “We believe evidence of the impact of climate risk on investment portfolios is building rapidly and…
Want a Bigger Say on Corporate Behavior? Move Your Money – The New York Times
From our former colleague Jackie Cook — index fund voting patterns may be an unhappy surprise to their investors. [W]hile index funds offered by different companies were often nearly indistinguishable in fees and performance, the voting behavior of the funds was very different. Vanguard and BlackRock, the two biggest fund managers, tended to side with…
Big Fund Managers Ripped for Opposing Political Cash Disclosures – Bloomberg
BlackRock Inc., Vanguard Group Inc. and Fidelity Investments are being drawn into a fight over political spending with a top Securities and Exchange Commission official rebuking the fund managers for failing to push corporations to disclose their campaign contributions. As managers of trillions of dollars, BlackRock, Vanguard and Fidelity are among the biggest investors in…
Activists thought BlackRock, Vanguard were climate allies. Not now
In 2017, the two biggest U.S.-based fund managers, BlackRock and Vanguard — which control a combined $12 trillion in assets — both voted to require Exxon Mobil to produce a report on climate change. It was a seen as watershed moment showing what can occur when the biggest index funds punch their weight at the…
Rise of Index ETFs Could Result in Complacent Corporate Governance | ETF Trends
Echoing (or catching up to) the findings of VEA Chair Bob Monks in his book Citizens Disunited, this reflects increasing concerns about “drone” investors. As more money flows into index-based stock mutual funds and ETFs, there may be less actively involved shareholders willing to push for changes during shareholder meetings. Index funds now account for…
Majority Action’s Asset Manager Report 2019 — BlackRock and Vanguard Flunk Again
Majority Action’s latest report on asset manager votes on climate change show little progress: BlackRock and Vanguard voted for 99% of U.S. large capitalization energy and utility company-proposed directors and 100% of their say on pay proposals. BlackRock and Vanguard not only voted with management more often than most of their asset manager peers; they…
BlackRock lost $90bn investing in fossil fuel companies, report finds | Environment | The Guardian
BlackRock, the world’s biggest investor, has lost an estimated $90bn over the last decade by ignoring the serious financial risk of investing in fossil fuel companies, according to economists. A report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) has found that BlackRock has eroded the value of its $6.5tn funds by betting…
