U.S. bank regulator gives BlackRock a February deadline on bank stakes, Bloomberg reports

CNBC ^ | 1/12/25

[EBH]

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation gave a fresh deadline of Feb. 10 to BlackRock to resolve an issue regarding oversight into the asset manager’s investments in FDIC-regulated banking organizations, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday, citing three people with knowledge of the matter.

The FDIC may open an investigation into BlackRock and demand more information from the company if it fails to make sufficient progress toward resolving the issues, the report said.

The move by the FDIC follows a Jan. 10 deadline that BlackRock failed to meet, according to the report.

snip

BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street now collectively control some $26 trillion in assets. Since the financial crisis of 2009, investors have poured money into their low-cost index funds, catapulting the three firms into the ranks of the largest owners of most large U.S. corporations.

[jimtorr]

......catapulting the three firms into the ranks of the largest owners of most large U.S. corporations.

Now I understand the concern about these guys.

[Diogenesis]

they are too rich and too connected to have to respond, again.
... the FDIC should suffer with its own accountability.

[Texas_Jarhead]

I heard a stat that the 3 or 4 largest investment companies are the largest shareholders in all of the companies that make up the S&P 500. Crazy stuff...

[ptsal]

BKMK

[fella]

Monopolies are bad for the nation but If they call themselves anything but the monopolies that they are and they donate to the right campaigns it’s all OK.

[LRoggy]

I’m in the industry, so here goes:

10 years ago, I called Vanguard to ask if they had a policy concerning the voting of proxy ballots for passive investments. I asked who controls the proxy, the provider of the index, or the investor who bought into it. They did not have an answer, nor did they ever come back to me.

For those who are not aware, when you buy an individual stock, you have voting rights via the number of shares on corporate decisions like hiring the CEO and Board of Directors, mergers and a few other things. You have direct control of those votes.

John Bogle, the modern father of index (passive) investing, was on record as saying no more than 25-30% of the market should be passive investing. We went over 50% in early 2024.

Why is this important?

If the voting control was via the vendor (i.e.-BlackRock, Vanguard, Invesco, etc.), then all the decisions are centralized by a few people who run those organizations. Too many people focus on saying these organizations CONTROL the investment companies, but they do not. Legally, the INVESTORS still own via their passive investment. But VOTING CONTROL is even more important, as so many entrepreneurs realized, like Zuckerburg, etc.

If you wonder how DEI crap got so quickly into the major corporations, likely look no further than the VOTING control, not the ownership control.

It needs to be made clear that the vendors DO NOT HAVE VOTING CONTROL, and proxy voting MUST be pushed to the investor, regardless of what that takes.

As far as this battle is concerned, the way I read it is that BlackRock is negotiating for regulatory relief/a settlement to settle a pattern of voting that is questionable to the regulators (it could be possible they didn’t fully comply with Biden Admin requests in how they voted, hence having to deal).

The attempt to stretch this out is to try to renegotiate with the incoming administration instead of now, in all likelihood. They know the current game is up, and now it is about reputation risk and staying away for being blamed for the DEI initiatives they backed when convenient but damning if continued.

[AAABEST]

This is why cumbag Fink went to Mar A Lago.

[EBH]

ChainCatcher news, FOX reporter Charles Gasparino stated that Trump’s team has consulted with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and at least one senior executive while searching for a candidate for Secretary of the Treasury.

It is reported that Trump has a long-standing working relationship with Fink, who is one of the best risk managers in the industry and often consults him on market-related views. Fink will not be a candidate for Secretary of the Treasury, but this indicates that Trump has a grand plan for implementing economic policies.

https://x.com/CGasparino/status/1858617422116176180

[Retain Mike]

"It needs to be made clear that the vendors DO NOT HAVE VOTING CONTROL, and proxy voting MUST be pushed to the investor, regardless of what that takes."

That makes such good sense. If the stock is held in a mutual fund, the managers of the fund should at least be disqualified from voting.

[Bob Wills is still the king]

“I heard a stat that the 3 or 4 largest investment companies are the largest shareholders in all of the companies that make up the S&P 500. Crazy stuff...”
____________________________________________________________

One more reason a S&P Index fund with very low fees makes the best instrument for growing your wealth over the long haul. The biggest financial players use it the same way.

[Texas Fossil]

Blackrock and Larry Fink are crooked as snakes.

I’ve had conversations with my stock broker for many years about my dislike for him.