BlackRock highlights technology as a growth driver and with Aladdin generated $595 million in revenue from 180 external clients last year, up 13% year-on-year.
Compliance and better understand risk have fueled that growth. In 2014 at their annual “Hackathon”, the idea was born to take the product beyond the institutional client base with Aladdin Risk for Wealth Management (“ARWM”), and the product rolled out in 2016 with high demand from intermediary distribution partners.
With the acquisition of FutureAdvisor, iCapital, and iRetire, the technology investment, risk and advisory platform is growing fast.
COO Rob Goldstein describes the firm as a “start-up with enormous scale”, but said that most people, including employees, called them crazy when they first launched the Aladdin platform.
With greater data requirements and transparency requirements coming the industry’s way on Jan 1, 2018 with Mifid II, et al, technology will be the battle field du jour for some time to come.
