BlackRock’s Fink pledges lower ETF fees
BLACKROCK chief executive Larry Fink yesterday announced plans to lower fees on some of its iShares Exchange Traded Fund products with a strategy change this autumn.
Speaking at the Barclays’ Global Financial Services Conference in New York, Fink said growing competition in the ETF sector meant the firm was going to unveil a new strategy in the fourth quarter of this year.
“There are a number of products where the competition is accelerating their sales numbers versus ours and we are going to address that on those few products,” Fink said
“We expect to be announcing a whole new strategy and how we are addressing the fee issue related to these large, liquid, core types of ETFs. We’re going to be addressing that in the next quarter, probably the early part of the fourth quarter,” he added.
BlackRock currently has 39 per cent market share of ETF assets under management through its iShares platform.
Fink also told delegates the growth of fixed income ETFs was going to “transform” the market in the years to come.
“We see huge growth opportunities in fixed income ETFs,” Fink said.
Around 66 per cent of BlackRock’s revenues comes from its retail and iShares business. Global ETF assets have grown 21 per cent since 2008.