I am the only one who practices magic: I practice magic in the city

Chapter 363: Infiltrating the Enemy (Seeking monthly votes!!! 4070)

Broadway Ballroom, 6th floor, Marriott Marquis Hotel, Manhattan.

An old man who looked to be in his fifties, wearing a dark blue haute couture suit and a light blue shirt, with his hairline receding to the back of his head, was holding a speech and talking to the audience, gesticulating from time to time.

The speaker now is Robert Capito, one of the founders of BlackRock and president of BlackRock.

In the circle, his other well-known identity is that he is a loyal younger brother of Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock.

He has been Larry Fink's most loyal supporter and subordinate since he followed Larry Fink to leave First Boston Bank and join Blackstone to establish BlackRock 28 years ago.

And he also received generous rewards, with an annual salary of nearly 30 million dollars just for show.

The real reward for him is almost the highest power in the world.

When Robert Capito was giving his speech, sitting in the first row of the audience was Larry Fink, who had just given his opening speech.

As 404 was a small company that had just barely qualified to attend the meeting, the three of them could only sit in the last two rows, and could not see the people in the front clearly.

"Huh? Where's my senior sister?" Luo Ziming stretched his neck and looked around the venue for a while, but couldn't find Jiang Nanzhen.

“My fellow colleagues, the second point I want to make is the divergence of global monetary policies.”

"Monetary policy is experiencing an unprecedented divergence around the world. After ending quantitative easing, the Federal Reserve has gradually embarked on a path of raising interest rates, and the market expects further tightening."

"On the other hand, Europe and Japan continue to promote negative interest rates and loose policies. Such policy divergence has brought about sharp fluctuations in capital flows and also triggered market concerns about currency wars..."

……

“…In this environment, we need to remember that the core of hedge funds and alternative investments is flexibility. We have more tools than traditional asset classes to manage risk and create value for clients amid uncertainty…”

When Robert Capito talked about hedge funds, he unconsciously glanced at his own hedge fund manager John Doe.

Robert Capito was furious when he saw this.

The senior director of BlackRock's hedge fund was sitting in the second row, pointing excitedly at his laptop to a woman wearing a Zhou cheongsam next to him, and he didn't listen to what he was saying at all.

John Dewy's full name is John Warburg Dewy, the "Warburg" in the middle means he came from the Warburg family.

Because his grandmother was one of the heirs to the Warburg family.

The history of the Warburg family is much longer than that of the Rothschild family, and can even be traced back to the time of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice six hundred years ago.

At that time, this family was one of the richest Jude banking families in Venice, and it has been passed down to this day.

The most famous heir of this family in modern times is Paul Warburg, one of the founders of the Maybank Federal Reserve and former vice chairman of the Maybank Federal Reserve.

It is precisely because of this relationship that John Doe, a wealthy second-generation who holds seven trust funds, can symbolically be responsible for a part of the hedge fund business at BlackRock.

Most wealthy families do not have just one trust fund, but manage several or even dozens of trust funds and various assets including real estate through family offices. (Note 1)

BlackRock's hedge fund business using low-frequency strategies is only a very marginal part of their business, far less than its core ETF business such as iShares ETF, active management and fixed income asset management. (Note 2)

With less power, the requirements for people's abilities are not so high, which is just right for a rich man like John Doe.

Of course, John Doe, who received the top elite education since childhood and graduated from Harvard, is not that bad. Compared with ordinary people, he is still quite capable and is also an expert in arbitrage risk management and quantitative trading.

BlackRock’s management is currently considering expanding his responsibilities and handing over part of the short-term bond ETF department to John Doe.

And now, this rising star of the Warburg family, looking at the expression on his face and his body language, is as ridiculous as a blue gorilla but he is still unaware of it.

What on earth is this guy doing? Can't he walk anymore after seeing a woman?

“Technology is reshaping the structure of the global financial market at an unprecedented speed. From algorithmic trading to blockchain technology, and now artificial intelligence, we have entered a new era driven by financial technology. Especially in the past six months, artificial intelligence has brought more uncertainty to the world…”

“…the transparency, efficiency and speed of financial markets are fundamentally changing, impacting not only the way we trade, but also challenging traditional financial…models…”

As Robert Capito read his speech, he glared at John Doe unhappily, but he saw that the woman from Da Zhou next to John Doe seemed to feel his gaze, turned around and looked at him and smiled.

Robert Capito felt as if his heart had stopped for a moment.

The soft fabric on Jiang Nanzhen's body fits her voluptuous figure, outlining her gentle and elegant curves.

The moon-white color shone slightly under the light, contrasting with her skin tone, making her look like a beauty made of white jade.

At the moment when Robert Capito and Jiang Nanzhen looked at each other, Robert Capito's chest surged quietly, as if a small stone was suddenly thrown into a pool of originally calm water, causing slight ripples.

He had never seen this woman before, but at this moment, he felt like he had seen her before, and even had an indescribable thrill.

He couldn't explain this sudden feeling. Those eyes seemed to carry some kind of magic. He never thought that his heart would beat so fast because of a woman.

His heart beat faster than when he was a teenager and had an affair with his cousin who was three years older than him in the barn of his uncle's house.

Robert Capito tried to hide his inner shock and continued his speech, but those eyes seemed to still whisper to him, soft but irresistible.

For a moment, he actually felt that he was somewhat out of control - a long-lost accelerated heartbeat and a sweet feeling of loss.

It seemed like some kind of long-lasting and deep call, which pulled him back to the impulse and desire of his youth the moment the woman looked at him.

Although Robert Capito was married only once, the moral values ​​in each circle are different.

For those working in finance, debauchery is just a normal part of daily life and in this circle, it is not a moral issue at all.

Betrayal, setting up schemes to siphon client assets, leaking company transaction privacy, maliciously making money... these are the immoralities in the financial world.

How can it be considered immoral to find a woman in normal times? It is only immoral if you play with her and then send her to jail.

So, it’s not that Robert Capito has never seen women before, from Eastern You, Northern You, with dark skin, white skin, yellow skin... As long as he wants, there may be no woman in this world that he cannot get.

For him, a woman was no different from a pen, a tie, or a car. He never thought that he would have such a strong impulse towards a woman.

The woman simply glanced at him and smiled, before her eyes returned to John Doe's computer screen.

"Click here to enter the Aladdin system's portfolio management module. Of course, you can also enter here directly from the trading module. For example, if I enter IURE, it will show the iShares Core Real Estate ETF..."

John Duy placed his laptop on his lap, with the screen facing Jiang Nanzhen next to him, and explained BlackRock's Aladdin system to Jiang Nanzhen in a boastful and earnest manner.

The Aladdin system is BlackRock’s core technology system, and almost all of BlackRock’s asset management, risk analysis and operational processes are included in this system.

The Aladdin system was originally a set of risk management tool software developed by BlackRock, and later gradually became a comprehensive portfolio management system.

Similar to the Bloomberg machine, the Aladdin system is also not part of the international Internet and is a completely dedicated network.

But unlike the Bloomberg machine, the Aladdin system focuses on portfolio management, risk control, real-time market data and liquidity analysis, and basically has no social attributes.

Initially, this system was only used by BlackRock itself, but after the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, BlackRock began to open the system to other financial institutions for a fee.

As of the end of last year, more than 250 large financial institutions were using Aladdin to manage assets and trade BlackRock and other ETFs, making it the most successful asset management system in the world.

As of now, the assets managed by Aladdin system have exceeded 15 trillion Malaysian dollars.

That is to say, in addition to the more than 6 trillion U.S. dollars in assets managed by BlackRock itself, there are another 9 trillion U.S. dollars in assets that are also related to BlackRock.

And these 15 trillion dollars are related to almost all countries, big companies and wealthy people in the world.

Jiang Nanzhen blinked at John Doe's screen and pointed to a submodule labeled "Sustainable Investment Analysis": "This is ESG analysis, right?"

John Duy looked at Jiangnan Zhenbai's white fingers and swallowed his saliva, complimenting her: "Jane, you are very smart, yes, but you know, ESG has been misunderstood by some mobs recently, so the name has been changed in the system."

John Duy clicked on the sustainable investment analysis page and said, "This is the overview page of the ESG analysis. You can view the carbon footprint, governance structure rating, and social responsibility score of the asset..."

“Click here to select specific ESG score ranges, industry categories, regions, and other screening criteria to find companies or assets that meet ESG criteria…”

“This is an ESG risk exposure tool that allows users to analyze the ESG risks of the entire portfolio or specific assets, including environmental risks, risks of insufficient diversification, and ESG risk alerts for asset suppliers and partners…”

“Any company that needs to obtain financing in the financial market will eventually have to meet ESG requirements. Even their suppliers and partners must comply with ESG requirements, so…”

BlackRock promotes ESG globally, not by simply forcing companies to comply, but by using the Aladdin system's ESG risk analysis to guide the assets that use the Aladdin system to invest in companies that do well in ESG and avoid companies that do not manage ESG well.

Some people say that what capital loves most is profit. If you give capital 100% profit, they will do things even at the risk of losing their heads.

But in fact, what capital likes most may be controversial, but what capital hates most is actually risk.

In a sense, capital may be the most conservative thing in the world.

It is the nature of capital to be able to earn less but not lose money and to be risk-averse.

This risk does not refer to global risk, but the risk of capital loss.

For an individual, achieving class transition requires getting rich quickly, but for big capital, making money is not the most important thing. The most important thing is not losing money.

Therefore, when BlackRock directs ESG construction into a risk, these asset management companies and financial companies will naturally avoid risky investment behaviors and instead invest in companies that do well in ESG.

ESG also has an impact on non-listed companies.

Because ESG rating agencies will also conduct ESG reviews on the suppliers and partners of large companies. If the ESG reputation of the suppliers and partners is not good, it will also lower the ESG scores of these large companies.

If the ESG score is low, under the current premise of quantitative trading, no one will buy your stocks, the turnover rate will be insufficient, the stock price will fall, and finally the board of directors will be replaced.

In this way, large companies that serve as Party A will force their Party B suppliers to do ESG. The same is true for the Aladdin system. If you don’t do ESG construction, I won’t buy your products. I will buy products from companies that have done a good job in ESG construction.

Unless your stuff is irreplaceable.

For example, the screens and memory of Sansang and the chips of TSMC.

Through this layer-by-layer transmission, BlackRock can promote ESG to every business corner in the world.

At this point, John Doe suddenly felt something was wrong. After all, because of the incidents at Alcatraz and the Newport office, ESG's reputation has been a bit bad recently. He wondered what the beauty next to him thought of ESG, so as not to offend others.

Just as I was about to explain a few words, I saw Jiang Nanzhen next to me with a look of recognition and admiration: "No wonder BlackRock is such a respected company. It is really admirable that it can invest so much in social welfare and leading correct values."

John Doe heaved a sigh of relief. In the past, when he heard others say this, he would agree on the surface but laugh in his heart, thinking that the other person was an idiot for actually believing this stuff.

But when he heard Jiang Nanzhen say this today, he just felt that the other person was a kind person with positive values.

What a good woman.

"Jane, I just looked at the information of the fund company you work for. The performance last quarter was indeed outstanding. However, it is still a small company. Sorry, I don't mean to look down on small companies. I just think that joining a large company, such as BlackRock, may be more helpful to your future?"

John Doe's eyes were eager and sparkling with hope.

"What's your current annual salary? I can quadruple it for you."

The protagonist will not use hacking methods to hack Aladdin's system, and will not use the same trick twice.

Note 1: Generally speaking, it is said that most of the trusts established by some wealthy people in China are intergenerational trusts, but for wealthy families with inheritance, there are often many different trusts, such as an independent trust established by a family branch, and special trusts such as education, marriage, medical care, and entrepreneurship. The 7 trusts in the article do not refer to special trusts, but the intergenerational trusts and independent trusts obtained by John Doe, which can get money every year or every month. If special trusts are counted, the amount will be higher.

Note 2: Hedge fund business can be divided into low-frequency strategies, high-frequency strategies and event-driven strategies based on the frequency of operation. BlackRock's hedge funds are mainly based on low-frequency strategies, with relatively low transaction frequencies. They mainly rely on the strategy development department, and who is in charge of this department has little impact on the business.

Note 3: As of 3062 in the Zhou calendar, the Aladdin system has not yet completed the transition to the cloud and HTML5, and is still using the local client login method.

Everyone is attacking the proportion of female employees in JD.com, but it is useless. As long as the ESG risk analysis in the Aladdin system still exists, all companies will inevitably move towards this direction. This is determined by financing needs and is an objective demand. Note that I am talking about all types of companies, not just private companies.

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(End of this chapter)