Northern Trust and BlackRock have signed a partnership agreement which will see the deployment of the latter’s Aladdin investment management platform.
BlackRock will deploy its Aladdin solution at Northern Trust
The deal is part of an extension of the Chicago-based corporate bank’s Northern Trust Whole Office strategy, which integrates Northern Trust’s global asset servicing platform with “innovative partners.”
Pete Cherecwich, president of corporate and institutional services at Northern Trust, says that his firm has a “long standing relationship” with BlackRock.
He adds: “The alliance connects Northern Trust’s fund accounting, fund administration, asset servicing, and middle office capabilities to BlackRock’s Aladdin platform, creating greater connectivity between asset manager and asset servicer.”
Northen Trusts states that the deal builds on a series of partnerships and strategic investments to provide solutions that span the investment lifecycle, including currency management, collateral optimisation, trade execution and more.
Rob Goldstein, BlackRock chief operating officer, says that the current climate has demonstrated the importance of data symmetry.
“BlackRock and Northern Trust are committed to providing increased transparency, accuracy and operating model flexibility for our mutual clients, leveraging our joint capabilities through Aladdin Provider.”
Founded in 1889, Northern Trust is counted among the largest banks in the United States, and one of the oldest in continuous operation.
The bank holds an estimated $1.12 trillion in assets under management, and $10.88 trillion in assets under custody.
It reported its first quarter earnings in April, showing a 9.1% drop in assets under management since December 2019, and a drop of 3.7% from April 2019. Its assets under custody also dipped, falling 9.7%.
Despite this, the bank’s revenues were up by 2.5% compared to the prior quarter and up 7.2% for the year.
Chairman, president and CEO of Northern Trust, Michael O’Grady, told analysts on an earnings call that more than 90% of the bank’s employees were working remotely due to the ongoing coronavirus panedemic.
