At BlackRock, investment stewardship is core to our role as an asset manager and a fiduciary to our clients.
As stewards of our clients' assets, we engage with companies and vote at shareholder meetings to encourage sound corporate governance and business practices that support companies in delivering durable, risk-adjusted financial returns over time. We are committed to building strong relationships through constructive, ongoing dialogue with the boards and executive management of the companies in which our clients are invested.
As a link between our clients and the public companies they are invested in, BlackRock offers a range of investment stewardship options to reflect clients’ individual investment choices and goals through a selection of proxy voting policies.
BlackRock’s stewardship policies are developed and implemented separately by two independent, specialist teams, BlackRock Investment Stewardship (BIS) and BlackRock Active Investment Stewardship (BAIS). While the two teams operate independently, their general approach is grounded in widely recognized norms of corporate governance and shareholder rights and responsibilities.
BIS is a dedicated function within BlackRock, which is responsible for stewardship activities in relation to clients' assets invested in index equity strategies. Approximately 90% of BlackRock clients’ public equity assets under management are held in index equity strategies, as of September 30, 2025.1
BAIS partners with BlackRock’s active investment teams in relation to their holdings.
Index or active, our BlackRock stewardship teams, and all of our stewardship efforts across the firm, are focused on making decisions consistent with our clients’ stated objectives.
BlackRock’s stewardship program has four key pillars:
- Engaging with the boards and management of companies in which clients are invested to deepen our understanding of a company’s business model, including how they are overseeing material business risks and opportunities over time, and to help inform our voting on behalf of clients.2
- Voting at shareholder meetings on management and shareholder proposals for clients who have authorized BlackRock to vote on their behalf.
- Contributing to industry dialogue on stewardship to share our perspectives on matters that may impact our clients’ investments.
- Reporting on our activities to inform clients about our stewardship efforts on their behalf through a range of publications on our website and direct client communications.
