BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Chief Financial Officer and Global Head of Corporate Strategy Martin Small outlined the firm’s growth priorities, integration plans for recent acquisitions, and views on emerging distribution channels such as digital wallets during a discussion at Bank of America’s 34th Annual Financial Services Conference.
Organic base-fee growth and industry consolidation
Small said BlackRock has seen “really excellent momentum” in organic base-fee growth, tied to the firm’s strategy of serving “every corner of an investor’s portfolio” and combining public and private markets with asset management and technology. He pointed to six consecutive quarters above the firm’s 5%+ target, with every quarter in 2025 above 6%, including 9% for the full year, 10% in the third quarter, and 12% in the fourth quarter.
Small also emphasized structural tailwinds he sees as supporting growth, including the shift from brokerage to advisory and increased access for retail and defined contribution (DC) investors to private markets. Separately, he argued asset management remains fragmented and is consolidating over time, with clients looking to do more business with fewer providers. He said the top five asset managers have been capturing “something on order of 80% of the flows” in recent years, while the industry remains relatively unconcentrated by assets and revenue.
Strategic priorities: integration, fundraising, iShares, Aladdin, and wealth
Small said integrating major acquisitions and realizing planned synergies is a top near-term priority, highlighting Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and HPS Investment Partners. He described BlackRock’s goal as being a scaled provider across public and private markets and helping clients build integrated portfolios. He said private markets and alternatives at BlackRock total $676 billion, positioning the firm as a “top five” player across fast-growing categories.
He also referenced initiatives discussed at BlackRock’s 2025 Investor Day, including several “$500 million revenue businesses” the firm is building: private markets for insurance, private markets for wealth, active ETFs, and digital assets.
Among additional priorities Small highlighted for 2025 and 2026 were:
- Fundraising: Small referenced a goal discussed at the firm’s Capital Markets Day of $400 billion of fundraising growth through 2030, with efforts spanning institutional relationships, wealth channels, and insurance clients.
- iShares: He said ETFs continue to grow at double-digit rates and cited $530 billion of organic asset growth in iShares in 2025. He highlighted expanding ETF use cases in fixed income, active ETFs, and “nonlinear” ETFs that use options as structured-note replacements. He also pointed to opportunities for ETF growth outside the U.S., particularly in Europe, where he said BlackRock has the leading platform and the market has set records.
- Technology and data: Small said Aladdin finished 2025 at 16% ACV growth, with the firm targeting mid-teens ACV growth through the cycle. He linked this to longer-term objectives discussed for 2030, including $36 billion of revenue and doubling operating income.
- Wealth: He described “wealth everywhere” as a major opportunity, citing continued U.S. migration from brokerage to advisory, growth in independent RIAs, and expansion of model portfolios at large platforms. He also said wealth channels in the U.S. and Europe are incorporating more private markets, where BlackRock aims to provide products and technology including custom models, SMAs, and after-tax strategies.
Private markets in wealth: “products” and “portfolios”
On the shift toward alternatives in wealth, Small said BlackRock’s wealth strategy centers on “products” and “portfolios.” He said the firm has expanded its lineup of evergreen alternative offerings for wealth and retail investors, referencing its H-series products led by HLEND (a non-traded BDC), as well as strategies including triple net lease, multi-strategy credit, and private equity.
However, he emphasized that BlackRock’s differentiation has been assembling building blocks into whole-portfolio strategies, including public-private model portfolios. He framed the destination as delivering “institutional-grade OCIO-like services” to wealth managers through bundled asset allocation, implementation, reporting, and technology, enabling advisors to focus on financial planning, tax planning, and wealth transfer.
Small said BlackRock launched an “alts completion portfolio” in January with Partners Group, describing it as a set of private-markets models designed to rebalance without requiring advisors to do the work. He also cited integrating public and private portfolios on platforms such as GeoWealth and pointed to a custom model solutions business.
Digital assets and tokenization: targeting digital-wallet distribution
Small said BlackRock views digital wallets as a new distribution channel, comparing today’s environment to early retail brokerage. He cited “820 million crypto wallets” globally and said crypto asset value has been volatile but recently around $2.5 trillion. He also referenced 4.5 billion digital wallets more broadly (including services such as Venmo, PayPal, Alipay, and Apple Pay) and argued these channels will need long-term investment products.
Small outlined a vision for “digital wallet native asset management,” including capabilities such as investment management agreements, proposals, invoicing, research, trading, rebalancing, and tax-loss harvesting within wallet ecosystems. He described “tokenized iShares” as a key entry point to deliver investment products to digital wallets, emphasizing that the growth opportunity is tied more to the ecosystem and distribution channel than to features such as 24/7 trading.
On regulatory engagement, Small said he has spent time with new SEC leadership and staff in working sessions on potential operating models for tokenized iShares, including creation/redemption mechanics and the arbitrage process. He said he could not predict whether tokenized investment products would arrive in “90 days or in 12 months,” but characterized recent progress as more than he had seen in the prior five years.
Systematic equities, Preqin, and margin outlook
Small said BlackRock’s systematic business saw $50 billion of inflows in 2025 and argued that scale has become an advantage in generating alpha, supported by technology resources and portability across vehicles and markets. He said systematic flows were driven by multiple products across wrappers including active ETFs, liquid ’40 Act hedge funds, traditional institutional hedge funds, and mutual funds. He also described systematic strategies as a portable platform that can be deployed across regions, citing launches in Saudi Arabia and a joint venture in India with Jio Financial and Reliance that began with systematic strategies.
Discussing the Preqin acquisition, which he said closed in March 2025, Small described a four-part strategy:
- Continue growing Preqin Pro, the subscription data business.
- Combine Preqin data with Aladdin to develop risk models and performance tools.
- Improve data-factory efficiency using automation and generative AI.
- Create “investable indexes” in private markets and eventually tradable products built on those indexes.
Small suggested that products could be built even if underlying private market funds are not physically replicated, drawing analogies to cash-settled markets and noting that early bitcoin ETFs used futures rather than “physical Bitcoin.” He said that if futures contracts can be established on private market indexes—even with relatively light volume—BlackRock could potentially create iShares products.
On profitability, Small said BlackRock finished the fourth quarter with an adjusted operating margin of 45% that was “fully burdened” for stock-based compensation, and said recurring fee-related earnings margin was 45.5%. He noted BlackRock has previously operated near 47% (in 2021) and said he does not view 45% to 46% as a ceiling, while adding the firm will continue investing for growth. He also said GIP and HPS entered the company with fee-related earnings margins north of 50% and could support fee-related earnings growth at margins above 50%.
Addressing M&A, Small said the firm does not need additional acquisitions to meet its organic base-fee growth target, citing recent results. He said BlackRock is focused on integrating recent transactions but remains open to selective, tactical deals that are accretive to its 2030 plan in private markets, technology, and distribution. Asked about “white spaces,” he cited secondaries, expansion in areas such as investment grade/high grade and asset-based finance, and “data completion” opportunities related to Preqin.
About BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)
BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management firm that provides a broad range of products and services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors. Its core activities include portfolio management across active and index strategies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the iShares brand, fixed income, equity and multi-asset solutions, as well as alternatives such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also offers cash management and liquidity solutions and retirement-focused products designed for defined contribution and defined benefit investors.
In addition to traditional investment management, BlackRock is known for its technology and risk management capabilities, most prominently its Aladdin platform, which combines portfolio management, trading and risk analytics and is used both internally and licensed to external clients.
