© 2018 BlackRock, Inc. All rights reserved. This is an interactive electronic version of the BlackRock 2017 Annual Report to Shareholders. The contents of this version are qualified in their entirety by reference to the printed version. A reproduction of the printed version is available in PDF here.
INVESTING VS. SAVING
BlackRock’s business is to invest your assets to help you achieve your financial goals. Our leading principle is that we are a fiduciary to our clients — put simply, your goals are our goals.
Whether you are a couple looking to retire with dignity; a parent planning to send your child to college; a government looking to build better cities for your citizens — BlackRock invests for you.
We do our jobs each day with the greater purpose of helping more and more individuals achieve well-being through the creation of wealth.
We stay ahead of market dynamics, changes in the regulatory environment, geopolitical issues and advancements in technology; we study and manage risk; and we build new innovative strategies — all so that we can help you achieve your long-term investment goals.
We invest in BlackRock with that same focus on the future: we invest in our platform, our people and our technology so that we can continue to deliver long-term value for our clients and our shareholders.
As an investor, you’re focused on an outcome. You want to invest, but you also want to manage the amount of risk you take. You need the right mix of investment strategies to achieve your goals.
BlackRock offers a full spectrum of investment strategies — diverse across investment styles, asset classes and regions — which allows us to focus on you: what you need, when you need it.
BlackRock’s combination of global expertise, robust research and Aladdin® technology gives us a unique capability to understand, analyze and address our clients’ most complex issues in a whole-portfolio context. We use this integrated investment and technology platform to build the right solutions for you.
Our diversified platform also translates into more consistent results for BlackRock across market cycles, enabling us to continuously invest in our business for the future. We invest for the future so that we can continue providing customized solutions for clients and delivering consistent earnings growth and capital return for shareholders over time.
Index Strategies Strategies that track a benchmark and hold its underlying components to provide broad diversification or targeted market exposure
Alternative Strategies Strategies, including hedge funds, private equity, real estate, infrastructure and commodities, that offer diversification and aim to deliver higher returns than traditional equity and fixed income markets
Alpha-Seeking Strategies Strategies that aim to deliver returns above a benchmark through fundamental human insight and systematic machine intelligence
Cash Strategies Strategies that provide a return while preserving the principal investment and liquidity
BlackRock embraces the power of technology to invest and generate more durable alpha for you; to manage risk across your portfolios; to help our intermediary partners manage risk, construct portfolios and scale their distribution efforts; and finally, to operate our own business more efficiently.
We invested in technology from the very beginning, building Aladdin, BlackRock's unifying investment and risk management platform, and continue to improve it every day.
The analytical capabilities of Aladdin enable us to see risk clearer, construct sophisticated outcome-oriented portfolios for clients in an even more complex world and run BlackRock's diverse, global business model on a unifying platform.
In addition to investing in technology to use as we invest, manage risk and operate, we have a range of technology offerings for our clients to use:
Whether you are an individual, an intermediary or a sophisticated institution, BlackRock invests in technology for you.
Aladdin Asset Liability And Debt and Derivative Investment Network. BlackRock's unified scaled investment and risk management system that enables us to better manage clients' assets and scale our operations
Scale One of BlackRock's differentiators that enables us to create and deliver solutions more efficiently to clients and optimize growth for shareholders
BlackRock's combination of investment strategies and technology capabilities uniquely position us to help you attain your financial goals. We help institutions like pension funds and insurance companies close their asset-liability gaps; we help countries manage their wealth and build infrastructure for their citizens; and we help individuals save for retirement.
Two-thirds of our assets are managed on behalf of people saving for retirement. With individuals living longer than ever before, we recognize the responsibility we have in helping them save for a dignified retirement. We are focused on leveraging our product breadth, technology tools and global insight to help people make their savings last for the duration of their retirement.
We built LifePath®, the industry's first target date funds, to make investing for retirement easier by creating a fund that adjusts allocations to lower risk investments as retirement nears. LifePath is designed to help you close the gap between your current savings and the annual income you'll need to achieve the standard of living you want in retirement.
We are creating digital tools to help financial advisors better serve their clients. iRetire®, for example, leverages BlackRock's Cost of Retirement Index ("CoRI®") to help you illustrate retirement income and develop a plan for closing the income gap. Aladdin Risk for Wealth Management helps financial advisors manage risk across their clients' portfolios and access multi-asset portfolio analytics.
BlackRock's global thought leadership platform, BlackRock Retirement Institute ("BRI"), enables our clients and broader community to make better decisions about retirement and longevity.
Target Date Making investing for retirement easier by automatically adjusting allocations from maximizing growth potential to managing against downside risk as retirement nears
Our global investment and technology platform is powered and used by our employees, who work tirelessly each day to serve you.
Since our founding, we have sought to attract talent from all around the world because we recognize the importance of having employees who reflect the clients we serve. Inclusion and diversity are key to our success and we believe the best solutions for clients and outcomes for people come from fully leveraging our diverse experiences, backgrounds and insights.
Our 14,000 employees work as One BlackRock to better serve you.
14,000 fiduciaries to clients
14,000 people passionate about performance
14,000 innovators
One BlackRock working together to fulfill our principles each day
Our responsibility is to help you achieve your goals. And that means we are committed to a long-term approach at the companies we invest in on your behalf and at BlackRock itself.
We advocate on your behalf for companies to adopt robust business practices to ensure sustainable long-term performance.
And we operate and invest in BlackRock with that same focus on the future.
45% of new hires and
36% of senior leader new hires were female in 2017
Launched FTO, our flexible time off program, so employees are no longer held to a fixed number of days off per year
5 female Directors
17/20 Directors are independent
We will be using 100% renewable energy in the US by the end of 2018 and globally by 2020
Total kWh (electricity) consumed globally has decreased by 12% since 2014 and has decreased by 26% per employee over the same period
Published 10 viewpoints on public policy issues and the implications for investors
Submitted nearly 50 comment letters in 2017 to policy makers
Augmented resourcing and oversight of Cyber Risk and Technology Risk as well as Third Party Risk
Global Public Policy Group BlackRock advocates for public policies that increase financial market transparency, protect investors and drive confidence in capital markets
BlackRock Investment Institute BII provides connectivity between our portfolio managers and insights to clients, policymakers and the public to keep you informed on macroeconomic, geopolitical and market events