BlackRock Chairman and CEO Laurence Fink during a Fox interview in New York, Jan. 14, 2020. (AP/Mark Lennihan)
BlackRock, an asset manager with an estimated $10 trillion in assets under management, is a New York-based company not well known to people outside the investment industry but an increasingly influential player in Washington, D.C.
The largest money manager in the world in 2022, BlackRock is close to the highest levels of government at a time when the company is poised to help coordinate investment efforts for Ukraine’s reconstruction.
At least three people who worked for the New York-based asset manager now serve in prominent roles in President Joe Biden’s cabinet, according to Business Insider.
These include Adewale “Wally” Adeyemo, a former chief of staff to BlackRock CEO and longtime Democrat Larry Fink who now occupies the No. 2 spot on the U.S. Treasury. Biden chose Adeyemo to serve in a top Treasury position. Former BlackRock investment executive Brian Deese is the director of Biden’s National Economic Council, making him the president’s top advisor on economic matters. Michael Pyle, an Obama administration member who became BlackRock’s global chief investment strategist, now works as Vice President Kamala Harris’ chief economic advisor.
Adeyemo’s boss, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, made a reported $7 million in her former role as chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, giving speeches to Wall Street banks she would later regulate. These included nearly $1 million in multiple speeches to Citigroup, according to financial disclosure documents, CNN reported.
It’s common for former government officials, including Federal Reserve leaders, to earn money giving speeches that share their insights on the economy and policy, however, it raised concerns that she was too close to Wall Street.
“This disclosure dovetails with some broader Democratic concerns regarding the revolving door and the access certain financial services firms have to top policymakers,” Isaac Boltansky, director of policy research at Compass Point Research & Trading, told CNN in a 2021 email.
BlackRock CEO Fink and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed to coordinate investment efforts to reconstruct Ukraine during a video conference in December.
Zelensky’s office made the announcement after Ukraine’s economic ministry signed a memo of understanding in November for BlackRock to provide advisory support for designing an investment framework.
Some BlackRock leaders are expected to visit Ukraine in 2023, The Hill reported. Ukraine sustained widespread damage in cities across the country and Russia particularly targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. The damage was estimated to be $135.9 billion, the Kyiv School of Economics reported in November.
BlackRock’s assets grew to $9.09 trillion in the first quarter of 2023 as depositors sought cover following the collapse of several U.S. banks by pouring money into the firm’s cash-management funds.
Billionaire BlackRock founder, CEO and chairman Fink and seven partners founded BlackRock in 1988. Originally part of The Blackstone Group, BlackRock was spun off in 1994 and went public in 1999, Forbes reported.
Fink stands out “for his desire to change the very system that made him who he is,” Harvard Business Review reported in 2015. “He has frequently spoken out about the perils of short-term thinking, especially on Wall Street.”
In April 2015, Fink sent a letter to leading CEOs urging them to ignore their activist shareholders and focus instead on the long-term health of their companies, according to HBR.
