At BlackRock, investment stewardship is core to our role as an asset manager and a fiduciary to our clients.
As stewards of our clients' assets, we engage with companies and vote at shareholder meetings to promote sound corporate governance and business practices that support companies in delivering durable, risk-adjusted financial returns over time. We are committed to building strong relationships through constructive, ongoing dialogue with the boards and executive management of the companies in which our clients are invested.
As a link between our clients and the public companies they are invested in, BlackRock offers a range of investment stewardship options to reflect clients’ individual investment choices and goals.
BlackRock’s stewardship policies are developed and implemented by two independent, specialist teams, BlackRock Investment Stewardship (BIS) and BlackRock Active Investment Stewardship (BAIS). While the two teams operate independently, their general approach is grounded in widely recognized norms of corporate governance and shareholder rights and responsibilities.
BIS is responsible for engagement and voting in relation to clients’ assets managed by certain index equity portfolio managers. Approximately 90% of BlackRock clients’ public equity assets under management are held in index strategies, as of September 30, 2024.1
BAIS partners with BlackRock’s active investment teams on company engagement and voting in relation to their holdings.
Index or active, our BlackRock stewardship teams, and all of our stewardship efforts across the firm, are focused on making decisions consistent with our clients’ stated objectives.
BlackRock’s stewardship program has four key pillars:
1. Engaging with companies
BlackRock stewardship analysts engage in constructive, ongoing dialogue with the boards and management of companies in which clients are invested. The purpose of engagement is to listen to company leadership on how material risks and opportunities in their businesses are managed and share our perspective.
2. Proxy voting on behalf of clients
Voting at a company’s shareholder meeting is a basic right of share ownership and the formal means by which investors express their views on a company’s corporate governance and performance.
When authorized by clients to vote on their behalf, BlackRock votes to convey support for or concern about a company’s approach to delivering financial returns for investors over time.
3. Contributing to industry dialogue on stewardship
BlackRock’s stewardship teams contribute to market-level discussions to share perspectives on topical and emerging stewardship issues.
4. Reporting on our stewardship activities
BlackRock informs clients about our stewardship activities on their behalf through a range of publications on our website, as well as through direct reporting.
