BlackRock Archives - Sustainable Value Investors

Financial Institutions, Stock Exchanges / 08.08.2020

Stock ownership by institutional investors cause higher stock price volatility, inefficiency and fragility, study finds

According to a recent study, institutional investors, among which BlackRock, Vanguard, Fidelity, JPMorgan, are responsible for increasing price volatility and mispricing in company stocks. Moreover, stocks with higher ownership by such investors show greater price drops during periods of market turmoil. The findings of this study provide...

Climate change, Financial Institutions, Oil and Gas / 18.02.2020

BlackRock’s Sustainable Investing Push

BlackRock CEO recently announced he will take action towards a more sustainable investment. Whereas, in the early stages, responsible investing meant excluding from portfolio highly controversial and problematic stocks, such as gunmakers. Nowadays, responsible investment means selecting carefully the assets in portfolio and constantly monitoring to...

Climate change, Deforestation / 11.01.2020

Worlds’ biggest Asset Managers are urged on climate change accountability

World's biggest asset managers are facing enormous pressure over the role they (do not) play on climate change. Public opinion, shareholders and governmental institutions are urging JPMorgan, Vanguard and BlackRock to substantially change their strategies over climate change. What the last two months of 2019 showed...

Corporate Governance / 16.12.2019

Apple shareholders to discuss human rights policies at 2020 annual meeting

Next year at Apple’ s annual meeting, shareholders will vote a non-binding resolution for transparency over human rights policies. On 9 September 2019, SumOfUs, a consumer advocacy group, submitted the proposal claiming that the US tech company had limited individual freedom of expression kowtowing to China's will, which...

ESG Rating, Senza categoria / 26.11.2019

Why your Good Governance Fund is full of Saudi Bonds

Investors in ESG funds will end up with more exposure to Saudi Arabia than a passive investor, highlighting complexities in responsible investing. The article written by James Mackintosh on the WSJ of November 26, 2019 analyzes the difficult choices behind the selection of bonds of better emerging-market...

Corporate Governance / 09.11.2019

Investors rise up against SEC anti-proxy adviser proposals

In November 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted a controversial proposal for more stringent scrutiny of proxy advisers, companies which support investors managing their votes at corporate meetings. The US financial regulator required proxy adviser to let listed companies’ management review proxy advisers’ recommendation before it...

Climate change, ESG Rating, Financial Institutions / 20.09.2019

The case for closer oversight of the ESG fund industry

"Green-friendly ETFs hold shares in groups with coal operations" said Financial Times on September 19, 2019. The case for closer oversight of the ESG fund industry is the conclusion of the analysis conducted by the environmental research group InfluenceMap on a basket of 118 climate-themed funds listed...

Corporate Governance / 02.09.2019

Shareholders press US boards to split chief executive and chairman roles

In the US, companies seem to be under pressure by shareholders proposals to separate the roles of chief executive and chairman, claiming for an independent board leadership. Data confirm the separation of roles is increasingly seen as a best practice in corporate governance, indeed, "according...

Oil and Gas / 01.08.2019

BlackRock lost $90bn investing in fossil fuel companies, report finds

A report from Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) found out recently that BlackRock lost $6.5tn by betting on oil companies and missing out growth in clean energy investment. According to the IEFA report, BlackRock ignored “the serious financial risk of investing in fossil fuel and...