BlackRock has launched a new Web site geared towards financial professionals. The new site is chock full of sales tools and portfolio analytics to help advisors sell BlackRock products.

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK - News) announced today the launch of a new leading-edge website for financial professionals--www.blackrock.com/fp--delivering a range of features including, industry-leading sales tools and portfolio analytics designed to help financial professionals deliver superb client service.

"BlackRock continues to execute on its global growth strategy, including significant investments in its U.S. retail business," said Barbara G. Novick, BlackRock Vice Chairman. "This Internet based offering is an important component of a broader initiative to increase our presence throughout the financial professional community."

Frank M. Porcelli, BlackRock Managing Director and head of its U.S. Retail Business said, "We understand the importance of providing advisors with a number of ways to access our market expertise and broad product range. Advisors rank wholesaling and websites among their most important criteria when evaluating the asset managers they want to do business with, and we have been making significant investments on both fronts."

With the launch of this new website, BlackRock is seeking a leadership role in the servicing of financial professionals online, based on the idea that informed decisions are the key to building strong relationships with financial professionals and their clients.

"At BlackRock, we believe that opportunity favors the prepared mind," Porcelli said. "With this site, we're helping financial professionals prepare to have meaningful interactions with clients about the opportunities in today's global financial markets."

The site, which has received acclaim from asset management industry web experts including Dalbar and kasina, was conceived and engineered to provide financial professionals with a comprehensive web resource. It offers certain capabilities that cannot be found on other industry sites designed for financial professionals, along with the core functionality that financial professionals say they want from an asset manager's web site.

"The site's new tool center is groundbreaking and will undoubtedly be of real value to advisors," said Melissa Kane, E-Business Manager at Dalbar, a firm that develops standards for, and provides research, ratings and rankings of intangible factors to financial services companies, including their service quality, communications and Internet services. "I personally have never viewed something so in depth and customized."

"We really like the way their market insight and investment topics are integrated with guidance on how to put that information into practice with clients," said Steven Miyao, Chief Executive Officer at kasina, a management consulting firm that seeks to advance the way financial services companies market, sell and service. "'They have also made it very easy to use their website by integrating best practices from outside the asset management industry."

The site was conceived and designed with three guiding principles.

1. Financial professionals work with more than just one asset manager. BlackRock's website for financial professionals features a unique combination of customized tools, including capabilities from proprietary and external sources, such as Morningstar, Inc., that allow advisors to generate client-approved, client-friendly reports and portfolio analytics on BlackRock's and other asset managers' products.

2. Financial professionals need to use their time effectively. BlackRock's website was engineered for ease of use, and it features intuitive navigation and seamless integration of content, allowing financial professionals to read about a topic, learn how to discuss it with clients and print out client approved materials for use in those discussions.

3. Financial Professionals want fast and easy access to product and market information. The new site includes market insights from well-known BlackRock market experts and portfolio managers, market-responsive special reports, regular economic and market commentaries and comprehensive product information.

Financial professionals can register for the site by visiting blackrock.com/fp or by calling a BlackRock representative at 800-882-0052, option 4.

About BlackRock

BlackRock is one of the world's largest publicly traded investment management firms. As of June 30, 2007, assets under management were $1.230 trillion. The firm manages assets on behalf of institutions and individuals worldwide through a variety of equity, fixed income, cash management and alternative investment products. In addition, a growing number of institutional investors use BlackRock Solutions� investment system, risk management and financial advisory services. Headquartered in New York City, the firm has approximately 5,000 employees in 18 countries and a major presence in key global markets, including the U.S., Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East. For additional information, please visit the Company's website at www.blackrock.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release, and other statements that BlackRock may make, may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, with respect to BlackRock's future financial or business performance, strategies or expectations. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words or phrases such as "trend," "potential," "opportunity," "pipeline," "believe," "comfortable," "expect," "anticipate," "current," "intention," "estimate," "position," "assume," "outlook," "continue," "remain," "maintain," "sustain," "seek," "achieve," and similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "would," "should," "could," "may" or similar expressions.

BlackRock cautions that forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over time. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and BlackRock assumes no duty to and does not undertake to update forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements and future results could differ materially from historical performance.

In addition to factors previously disclosed in BlackRock's SEC reports and those identified elsewhere in this communication, the following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements or historical performance: (1) the introduction, withdrawal, success and timing of business initiatives and strategies; (2) changes in political, economic or industry conditions, the interest rate environment or financial and capital markets, which could result in changes in demand for products or services or in the value of assets under management; (3) the relative and absolute investment performance of BlackRock's investment products, including its separately managed accounts; (4) the impact of increased competition; (5) the impact of capital improvement projects; (6) the impact of future acquisitions or divestitures; (7) the unfavorable resolution of legal proceedings; (8) the extent and timing of any share repurchases; (9) the impact, extent and timing of technological changes and the adequacy of intellectual property protection; (10) the impact of legislative and regulatory actions and reforms and regulatory, supervisory or enforcement actions of government agencies relating to BlackRock, Merrill Lynch or PNC; (11) terrorist activities and international hostilities, which may adversely affect the general economy, domestic and local financial and capital markets, specific industries and BlackRock; (12) the ability to attract and retain highly talented professionals; (13) fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, which may adversely affect the value of advisory fees earned by BlackRock; (14) the impact of changes to tax legislation and, generally, the tax position of the Company; (15) BlackRock's ability to successfully integrate the MLIM and Quellos businesses with its existing business; (16) the ability of BlackRock to effectively manage the former MLIM and Quellos assets along with its historical assets under management; and (17) BlackRock's success in maintaining the distribution of its products.

BlackRock's Annual Reports on Form 10-K and BlackRock's subsequent filings with the SEC, accessible on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov and on BlackRock's website at http://www.blackrock.com, discuss these factors in more detail and identify additional factors that can affect forward-looking statements. The information contained on our website is not a part of this press release.

Edited by: Erin Kello

Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE