- According to the report, BlackRock has reduced the value of its clients’ Russian assets by $17 billion.
- Many Russian assets have become untradeable due to economic sanctions, market closures and trade bans.
- “We support the Ukrainian people and condemn the brutal aggression of the Russian government,” said the CEO of the management company, Larry Fink.
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According to a Financial Times report, BlackRock has lost more than $17 billion due to its assets in Russia since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.
Clients owned over $18 billion worth of Russian assets at the end of January, according to the firm, but the $10 trillion asset manager subsequently reduced most of that to near zero. Assets of the BlackRock iShares Russia ETF, which trades under the ticker symbol ERUS, have fallen from $600 million to less than $1 million since the Ukraine crisis began.
Over the past two weeks, Western countries have imposed economic sanctions against Russia, due to which most of the assets registered in the country cannot be sold. Goldman Sachs became the first major Wall Street bank to close its operations in Russia on Thursday.
Although BlackRock has never opened an office in Russia, it has invested in Russian stocks for its clients who wanted to gain access to the market. He also announced that he will be phasing out R from his iShares BRIC ETF on Wednesday.
BlackRock CEO and Chairman Larry Fink praised the sanctions and condemned the Russian invasion.
“Capital is being attracted by investors and companies that have been doing business in Russia for a long time,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post last week. “This demonstrates how capital markets can work constructively, providing capital to those working inside the system and rapidly denying it to those working outside of it.”
“We support the Ukrainian people and condemn the brutal aggression of the Russian government,” Fink added.
BlackRock did not immediately respond to an Insider request for comment.