BlackRock lesson before the elections

BarcelonaCoincidence (providence, some believe) has meant that Barcelona will host more than 2,000 executives on November 26, two days before the day of reflection and three before the day to vote in the general elections, at the congress organized by the CEDE Foundation. Management of uncertainty, digitalization, artificial intelligence (AI), geopolitics, and the experiences of high-level executives are matters that concern the 170,000 executives who are part of this organization, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary and is presided over by Isidre Fainé, president of the La Caixa Foundation and its investment arm, Criteria. Politics will not be the subject of the meeting, organized many months ago, but it will surely hover over the sessions, which have the motto "Creating value, building the future".

Among the participants at the conference, which can also be followed via streaming, in addition to Reynés, from Naturgy; Lucena, from Aena; Gortázar, from CaixaBank; Garamendi, from the CEOE; Sánchez Llibre, from Foment; Relat, from Fira and Mat Holding, and a long etcetera, stands out Larry Fink, the all-powerful CEO of BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, with a portfolio of some 15 trillion dollars (yes, yes, with b), the equivalent of three times Germany's GDP. Another coincidence: the intervention will be remote because in the United States, November 26 is the traditional and sacred Thanksgiving Day. And, therefore, before carving the turkey with the family, as is appropriate, Fink will present his vision of the world of investment.

It is necessary to listen to what he says because it provokes many reactions. It happened with his traditional annual letter to investors in 2020, titled A fundamental restructuring of finance, where he stated that climate risk was a true risk for investments. And he reaffirmed it in subsequent missives, in which he also incorporated sustainability criteria into the valuation and estimation of investments and portfolios. As was to be expected, there was an avalanche of capital movements towards funds and entities with more green awareness and application of ESG criteria (environmental, social, and governance), and hundreds of company and multinational executives embraced sustainability, whether real or feigned. We will see if this time he gives another lesson.