Missouri pulls state retirement funds from left-leaning BlackRock
Fitzgerald says fiduciary duty, not politics, must remain the top priority
It’s called “MOSERS” and it stands for the Missouri State Employees Retirement System.
MOSERS looks out for the interests of thousands of retirees in the Show-Me State.
In the past, the state has put its funds in the hand of BlackRock, a money-management company, for profits and safe keeping.
But not anymore.
Yesterday, the state announced it’s going to pull a half-billion dollars out of the BlackRock funds.
In doing so, it’s following the lead of other Republican-led states
Like Missouri, they’re bailing from commitments to BlackRock’s left-leaning environmental and social goals.
Fitzpatrick says the firm has been prioritizing liberal environmental, social, and governance standards.
But all that doesn’t set well with Fitzpatrick.
He says fiduciary duty must remain the top priority for investment managers, not “political correctness.”
He says money managers have been forcing a left-wing social and political agenda on Missouri instead of thinking about maximum possible returns without all the politics.
Earlier this month, South Carolina and Louisiana pulled funds out of BlackRock.
Utah yanked about $100 million in state funds.
Missouri’s neighbor to the south, Arkansas, divested about $125 million out of accounts managed by the firm.
In all that comes to $1.5 billion dollars pulled from liberal-schmiberal BlackRock for the good of retirees and taxpayers.