BlackRock reported $11.58 trillion in assets under management as of March 31, up 11% from a year ago and edging out the prior quarterly record of $11.55 trillion the firm set for the three months ended Dec. 31.
New inflows of $84.2 billion and foreign exchange-related gains of $91.8 billion proved just enough to offset $135.6 billion in market-related declines for the latest quarter.
Net inflows of $7.1 billion for BlackRock’s private markets business, a focus of the firm’s efforts last year with its acquisition of infrastructure giant Global Infrastructure Partners and private credit firm HPS, exceeded $7 billion of realizations for the quarter, lifting total private markets AUM to $212.4 billion from $212 billion.
In a nod to the spike in market volatility seen since the Jan. 20 start of President Donald J. Trump’s second administration, bringing radical shifts in economic policy, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said in a news release the firm has always emerged stronger from such periods.
While uncertainty and anxiety about the future of markets and the economy are dominating client conversations now, “we've seen periods like this before when there were large, structural shifts in policy and markets — like the financial crisis, COVID and surging inflation in 2022. We always stayed connected with clients, and some of BlackRock’s biggest leaps in growth followed,” Fink said.
BlackRock’s exchange traded fund business proved the biggest magnet for net inflows in the latest quarter, pulling in $107 billion, followed by $13 billion in retail flows, offsetting $37 billion in institutional outflows.
By region, BlackRock said inflows of $51 billion from clients in the Americas and $36 million from EMEA handily offset $4 billion in net outflows from the Asia-Pacific region.
