BlackRock is partnering with Snowflake, a cloud-based data platform provider, to deliver a "next-generation solution for the investment management industry," a joint news release said Monday.
Aladdin Cloud will enable money managers to combine Aladdin and non-Aladdin data on a single cloud-based platform "increasing operational efficiency," the companies said in the release.
BlackRock will add the Aladdin Data Cloud to its Aladdin investment and operations platform and it also will be a "strategic part" of Snowflake's own data cloud, the release said.
Money manager users of Aladdin cloud data will receive an independent, centrally managed data store that includes Aladdin data sets. Managers' data platforms can be expanded with the addition of third-party data sources and their own proprietary data "allowing organizations to access and query their business-critical data on single cloud-based platform," the release said.
In addition, "we have increasingly seen asset managers — including BlackRock — looking to streamline how they receive data from asset servicers. In particular, clients have inquired about using our Aladdin Data Warehouse capability to bring together data from their custodians and fund administrators, next to their core portfolio data. The launch of the Aladdin Data Cloud will help asset managers do just that," said Daniel Gourvitch, a BlackRock managing director and head of platform for Aladdin, in an email.
Robert Goldstein, a senior managing director and BlackRock's chief operating officer, said in the release that Aladdin users already can customize "on top of Aladdin" and added that users of Aladdin Studio — BlackRock's platform for developers — "will have more powerful tools than ever at their disposal" through the Aladdin Data Cloud.
"With Aladdin as a strategic part of Snowflake Data Cloud, our goal is to create a new industry standard in financial services for accessing, governing and acting on data in a unified and secure data environment," Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman said in the release:
BlackRock will launch the Aladdin cloud-based service later this year, BlackRock spokesman Logan Koffler said in an email.
BlackRock managed $8.68 trillion as of Dec. 31.
