Asset manager BlackRock, which today reported it's managing a record $11.6 trillion in assets, is reportedly delaying plans to sign an agreement with the FDIC that would provide the regulator with greater insight into its business dealings with certain banks. The goal of the agreement would likely be similar to those the FDIC has signed with another financial firm as part of a broader response to the high profile collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature in March 2023, which required the agency to provide an emergency backstop.
As part of its strategy to prevent similar collapses in the future, the FDIC is no longer letting two of the so-called Big Three asset money managers—BlackRock, and Vanguard—self-attest that their enormous size has not let them to exert undue influence on banks' operations. Instead, the agency is asking the asset managers to share data that will allow it to directly confirm such attestations.
