And financial services companies have taken similar steps to further isolate the Russian economy from the global financial system. Iconic American consumer brands have suspended their operations of non-essential products. The speed and magnitude of company actions to amplify sanctions has been incredible. Over the past few weeks, I’ve spoken to countless stakeholders, including our clients and employees, who are all looking to understand what could be done to prevent capital from being deployed to Russia. Grounded in our fiduciary duty, we moved quickly to suspend the purchase of any Russian securities in our active or index portfolios. And following Russia’s invasion, we saw how the private sector quickly terminated longstanding business and investment relationships.īlackRock has been committed to doing our part. As I wrote in my letter to CEOs earlier this year, access to capital markets is a privilege, not a right. Governments across the world almost unanimously imposed sanctions, including taking the unprecedented step of barring the Russian central bank from deploying its hard currency reserves.Ĭapital markets, financial institutions and companies have gone even further beyond government-imposed sanctions. United in their steadfast commitment to support the Ukrainian people, they launched an “economic war” against Russia. The invasion has catalyzed nations and governments to come together to sever financial and business ties with Russia. I believe this has exacerbated the polarization and extremist behavior we are seeing across society today. It has left many communities and people feeling isolated and looking inward. We had already seen connectivity between nations, companies and even people strained by two years of the pandemic. Access to global capital enables companies to fund growth, countries to increase economic development, and more people to experience financial well-being.īut the Russian invasion of Ukraine has put an end to the globalization we have experienced over the last three decades. I remain a long-term believer in the benefits of globalization and the power of global capital markets. We believed the world would come closer together. We saw the rise of globalization and growth of the capital markets fueling a need for the kind of technology-driven asset management that we believed we could bring to our clients.
It was during this time that we started, 34 years ago, to build BlackRock. These were powerful trends that accelerated international trade, expanded global capital markets, increased economic growth, and helped to dramatically reduce poverty in nations around the world.
The world benefited from a global peace dividend and the expansion of globalization. In time, Russia became interconnected with the world and deeply linked to Western Europe. In the early 1990s, as the world emerged from the Cold War, Russia was welcomed into the global financial system and given access to global capital markets. The impact will reverberate for decades to come in ways we can’t yet predict. They are layered on top of a pandemic that has already had profound effects on political, economic, and social trends. The ramifications of this war are not limited to Eastern Europe. While we do not have offices or operations in Russia or Ukraine, I know that this has created a great deal of stress and uncertainty for all of our employees, particularly those in Europe, and we have worked to provide them with the resources they need. In the past few weeks, BlackRock mobilized a philanthropic response to help those in need and support our colleagues in Europe, closest to the war. In consultation with our stakeholders, BlackRock has also joined the global effort to isolate Russia from financial markets. I am proud of BlackRock’s support for refugees fleeing their homes. War is always a humanitarian tragedy, but the indiscriminate killing of civilians has been particularly painful to witness. We stand with the Ukrainian people, who have shown true heroism in the face of merciless aggression. I speak for everyone at BlackRock when I say that witnessing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been truly heartbreaking. The attack on a sovereign nation is something we have not seen in Europe in nearly 80 years – and most of us never imagined that in our lifetimes we would see a war like this waged by a nuclear superpower. As I write this letter to you, the world is undergoing a transformation: Russia’s brutal attack on Ukraine has upended the world order that had been in place since the end of the Cold War, more than 30 years ago.
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