With more than $23 trillion in assets under their collective management, the Big Three investment managers – BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street – are undisputed financial heavyweights. State Street has more assets under management than the entire annual gross domestic product of Germany. And together, they’ve become known for imposing a woke political agenda on corporate America.
The Big Three have heavily invested in America’s banks. At some of them, BlackRock and Vanguard hold more than 10% of the voting stock. State Street also holds substantial amounts of shares of many banks. That’s important because, under the Change in Bank Control Act, companies are prohibited from acquiring “control” of a bank unless certain federal regulators approve beforehand. Federal regulators long ago adopted regulations that rebuttably presume “control” when a firm holds more than 10% of the voting stock of a publicly held company.
Jonathan McKernan, a Republican on the FDIC’s board of directors, recently called for enhanced monitoring of the Big Three, and for temporarily prohibiting further investments by the investment manager behemoths in FDIC-regulated banks in excess of 10%. Democrat board member Rohit Chopra appears to be on board as well.
Hellbound and Down 