BlackRock pushing harder on social aspects in ESG thrust

Singapore

BLACKROCK, the world's largest asset manager with US$7.4 trillion in assets under management as of end-2019, will be focusing more on how companies pursue sustainable social practices, including racial equality, amid the Covid-19 pandemic. It has reiterated yet again that it will be "increasingly disposed" to vote against management should companies fail to balance the needs of more stakeholders.

In its latest Investment Stewardship: 2020 Q2 Global Quarterly Report, BlackRock said it expects many of its engagements in the second half of 2020 to focus on financial and operational resilience, and assessing the impact of companies' response to the Covid-19 pandemic and associated issues of racial equality.