Under plans by Larry Fink, BlackRock’s chief executive, Aladdin will become an even more important source of cash for the fund giant. Mr Fink recently said that his goal is for Aladdin and the wider BlackRock solutions business to account for about 30 per cent of revenues in five years, compared with 7 per cent currently. BlackRock’s push to diversify its revenue sources comes at a time of turmoil for the asset management industry, where profit margins are falling and there is severe pressure to cut fees. According to Casey Quirk, the consultancy owned by Deloitte, the professional services firm, the average profit margin has fallen from 34 per cent in 2014 to 32 per cent in 2015.

https://www.ft.com/content/eda44658-3592-11e7-99bd-13beb0903fa3