Will offer Voting Choice to over three
million shareholder accounts of iShares Core S&P 500 ETF
(IVV)
Makes more than half BlackRock index equity
AUM eligible for Voting Choice
BlackRock today announces that, subject to iShares Board
approval, it plans to expand its Voting Choice program to its
largest ETF – the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) with $305
billion1 in assets under management (AUM). With this newly proposed
expansion, BlackRock is empowering over three million2 IVV
shareholder accounts and more than half its index equity AUM to be
eligible to participate in Voting Choice.
Innovation and technology have led to greater choice and access
in investing strategies and products. Today's millions of investors
can choose among thousands of low-cost, high-quality exposures
across asset classes and markets. BlackRock believes that greater
choice should extend to proxy voting, and we are committed to a
future where every investor can participate in the shareholder
voting process.
Nearly two years ago, BlackRock pioneered an industry movement
by launching Voting Choice, making proxy voting easier and more
accessible for eligible institutional clients, including public and
corporate pension funds serving more than 60 million3 people
globally.
Since then, BlackRock has continued to expand Voting Choice to
include additional options for individual investors in our Aperio
custom index strategies and more and different policies for
institutional investors in over 650 funds globally. Working with
technology and voting policy providers, BlackRock is planning to
offer Voting Choice to eligible investors in the iShares Core
S&P 500 ETF (IVV), our largest ETF and one of the most widely
held.
This proposed expansion of BlackRock Voting Choice is subject to
iShares Board approval and, if approved later this year, is
expected to be in effect for the 2024 proxy voting season.
BlackRock will use this pilot as an opportunity to evaluate
investor interest, the necessary proxy voting infrastructure and
overall user experience to evaluate further expansion of the
program.
The expansion of Voting Choice for this ETF would bring $2.34
trillion of BlackRock’s total index equity AUM – more than half our
index equity AUM globally – in scope for participation in BlackRock
Voting Choice.
Salim Ramji, Global Head of iShares and Index Investments,
BlackRock commented: “BlackRock has been working for years with
public and corporate pension funds and other institutional
investors to make voting easier and more accessible than ever
before. These efforts have spurred innovation in the proxy voting
ecosystem, catalyzing an industry movement to further shareholder
democracy. As we work towards a future where every investor can
participate in proxy voting choice, we are excited to launch
BlackRock Voting Choice for millions of investors by expanding the
program to our iShares Core S&P 500 ETF, our largest ETF and
one of the most widely held.”
Joud Abdel Majeid, Global Head of BlackRock Investment
Stewardship, commented: “BlackRock is committed to a future
where every investor can have the choice to participate in the
shareholder voting process. While many asset owners choose to rely
on BlackRock’s Investment Stewardship team to engage and execute
voting on their behalf, consistent with our fiduciary duty as an
investment manager, others want the choice to participate in proxy
voting more directly. In support of this, we are pleased to be
working towards expanding BlackRock Voting Choice to our largest
ETF, and we look forward to learning from this pilot starting
2024.”
Similar to our Voting Choice for pension funds, the ETF pilot
will offer eligible investors a range of third-party policies to
choose from, as well as the option to continue to vote according to
the BlackRock Investment Stewardship policy. Eligible investors
will be asked to select from these predefined policy options which
will be used to split the ballots based on pro-rata fund ownership.
Any investors that choose not to participate or are not eligible to
participate will continue to have BlackRock Investment Stewardship
vote their pro-rata shares. We believe we now offer the most
options in the industry when it comes to voting policies catering
to a wide range of investor preferences.
For clients and shareholders who authorize BlackRock to vote on
their behalf, we remain steadfast in our focus on their long-term
financial interests. The majority of currently eligible clients
continue to entrust BlackRock’s investment stewardship team with
this important responsibility, consistent with BlackRock’s
fiduciary duties as an asset manager.
Since its launch in 2022, BlackRock Voting Choice has attracted
more than 70 newly committed clients, representing $223 billion of
AUM.5 As of March 31, 2023, $555 billion in index equity client
assets are committed to BlackRock Voting Choice (up from $452
billion as of September 30, 2022). See
www.blackrock.com/votingchoice for more details.
Notes to Editors:
About BlackRock BlackRock’s purpose is to help more and
more people experience financial well-being. As a fiduciary to
investors and a leading provider of financial technology, we help
millions of people build savings that serve them throughout their
lives by making investing easier and more affordable. For
additional information on BlackRock, please visit
www.blackrock.com/corporate
About BlackRock Voting Choice BlackRock Voting Choice is
a proprietary offering leveraging technology and innovation that
provides eligible clients with more opportunities to participate in
proxy voting where legally and operationally viable. BlackRock
believes that greater choice should extend to proxy voting. Clients
participating in Voting Choice represent $555 billion. The AUM
figures are USD as of March 31, 2023. For additional information on
BlackRock Voting Choice, please visit
www.blackrock.com/votingchoice
This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for
the purchase or sale of any financial instrument. Similarly, the
material does not constitute, and should not be relied on as,
legal, regulatory, accounting, tax, investment, trading or other
advice. Any financial, tax, or legal information contained herein
is included for informational purposes only. Investing involves
risk, including possible loss of principal.
Prepared by BlackRock Investments, LLC, member FINRA.
© 2023 BlackRock, Inc. or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
BLACKROCK and iSHARES are trademarks of BlackRock,
Inc. or its affiliates. All other trademarks are those of their
respective owners.
________________ 1 As of March 31, 2023. 2 Based on estimated
available reach from a proxy service advisor as of June 13, 2023. 3
BlackRock as of September 30, 2022. Over 60 million people globally
directly or indirectly invest in retirement assets eligible for
Voting Choice. 4 As of March 31, 2023. 5 Newly committed Voting
Choice AUM includes pooled fund clients and separate account
clients that have elected certain Voting Choice options. Please
visit www.blackrock.com/votingchoice for more information.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230717296297/en/
Media: Dominic McMullan
dominic.mcmullan@blackrock.com +1 (347) 498 4393
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