EU ‘reflecting’ on conflict of interest rules after BlackRock controversy

The fee mentioned it was “reflecting on possible clarifications relevant to the procedure to follow when a professional conflicting interest may be at stake in a procurement procedure”, in accordance with its response to the ombudsman, revealed on Monday.

It mentioned it will embody updates to its monetary regulation on conflicts of interest in a public session.

The marketing campaign group Urgewald raised issues about BlackRock’s alleged conflict of interest, first reported by the Guardian in April 2020. While BlackRock has taken steps lately to tighten its insurance policies on the lively allocation of cash, its function because the world’s largest supplier of passive investments means it holds shares worth billions of dollars in oil firms and banks.

Katrin Ganswindt, a finance campaigner at Urgewald, mentioned: “It is good that the EU commission is considering providing clearer guidelines on possible conflict of interest. This should be a given.

“In the case of BlackRock, the world’s largest investor in fossil fuels, it is unfortunately already too late. The fact that the asset manager is also a leading shareholder in the banks for which it is advising environmental social and governance regulation, shows how we would have needed these guidelines before BlackRock was awarded the tender.”

Rasmus Andresen, an MEP with the Greens/European Free Alliance group, mentioned he welcomed the fee’s response, however added “everything depends on the details and the implementation of this revision”. Andresen was amongst a gaggle of MEPs who wrote to the fee with issues over the contract.

“The only question of importance is if the financial regulation at the end will prevent BlackRock and others from getting a leading advising role on policy they have a financial interest in,” Andresen instructed the Guardian. “The commission should come up with a concrete proposal and formulate the revision in close cooperation with the European parliament as budgetary authority.”

BlackRock declined to remark. It has beforehand mentioned its bid for the banking rules work was accepted as a result of the fee discovered it supplied the highest quality for the bottom value.