various shades of green crayons behind a green background

Index Investing

At BlackRock, our approach to index investing is anything but passive. We understand that investors today demand more efficient returns and innovative ways to use index strategies.
Contact us Contact us

Why BlackRock for index investing?

BlackRock seeks to provide cost-effective access for institutional clients’ desired market exposures through both widely used and customized benchmarks, all through our proprietary, in-house Aladdin technology. In addition to core allocations, clients use our flexible platform of index strategies for a range of investment needs, including risk management, tactical adjustments and cash equitization.

Choice arrow icon

Flexibility

Our flexible range of strategies are designed to meet your needs today and in the future.
Performance icon

Efficiency

We are focused on delivering optimal tracking, consistent returns and lowering the total cost of ownership.
Target icon

Precision

Our investment track record spans four decades led us to be entrusted with US$7.75 trillion of assets under management1.

Learn more about index investing at BlackRock

Platform capabilities Investment process
Multi Column Teaser-2,Paragraph-3
Paragraph-4,Accordion-1

BlackRock’s Index investing capabilities

With US$7.75 trillion in indexed assets, BlackRock is a global leader in index investing.

Over 2,500 funds

managed against 900+ benchmarks

Exposures available across vehicles

Including pooled, separately managed accounts and exchange traded

Breadth of platform

Strategies across market-cap weighted, index “plus,” ESG, smart beta and asset allocation

Distribution by asset class (%)

Chart of BlackRock’s index distribution by asset class.

Source: BlackRock, as of September 31, 2019.

Index investment management cycle

We combine the best of BlackRock technology and benchmark expertise to create a superior experience across the index investment management cycle.

Index investment management cycle. While proprietary technology platforms may help manage risk, risk cannot be eliminated.

Source: BlackRock, for illustrative purposes only.

    • Review cumulative effect of investment decisions to help identify factors contributing to/subtracting from portfolio performance
    • Risk & Quantitative Analysis Team (RQA) monitors dozens of risk factors globally on a continuous basis.
    • Aladdin advantage: Portfolio engineering tools are integrated on the same platform as risk monitoring tools, making it easy for RQA to provide a third-party risk assessment on portfolios.

    • Detailed knowledge of index methodologies
    • Experience with predicting and projecting index changes
    • Focused on optimal treatment of corporate actions
    • Continual research into index events
    • Aladdin advantage: Proprietary Aladdin ‘Index Pro’ application makes analyzing benchmark changes a clean and efficient process

    • Significant investment in technology
    • Market leading portfolio and risk tools provided by our Aladdin® platform
    • Integrated cost and liquidity analysis
    • Sophisticated optimization tools
    • Aladdin advantage: Custom portfolio construction application built by our portfolio engineering team designed especially for index management

    • Building smart trading strategies designed to access optimal liquidity
    • Large internal marketplace for potential netting of client flows
    • Focused trading research and systems
    • Aladdin advantage: Aladdin’s extensive global trading platform ensures low costs and optimal access to liquidity