In its half-year results for 2025, the global asset manager said it has seen overall net inflows of US$152 billion, dominated by its iShares exchange-traded fund (ETF) vehicles, which is up 8 per cent from US$140 billion in the first six months of 2024.
Flows into iShares ETFs stand at US$192 billion, up from US$150 billion a year ago, with US$87 billion going into equity ones and US$77 billion going into fixed income ETFs. Fixed income ETFs, in particular, have now passed US$1 trillion in assets under management (AUM), while overall ETF AUM stands at US$4.7 trillion, up from US$3.8 trillion in June 2024.
During the half, BlackRock announced it will launch its first active ETF – iShares US Factor Rotation Active ETF – in Australia, having already offered a range of passive ETFs in the region for many years. The firm said it expects AUM in active ETFs globally to reach US$4 trillion by 2030 and, specifically in Australia, expects to see financial advisers to add them to their managed accounts in the future.
In the US, more than one in three advice practices use active ETFs in their models with an average allocation of 20 per cent to active ETFs among practices who use them, it said.
YTD retail flows are US$15 billion, up from US$12.8 billion a year ago.
However, the overall net gains are offset by a large US$52 billion redemption from an APAC institutional client in the second quarter, which contributed to overall institutional outflows during the six-month period of US$78 billion, up from US$35.4 billion a year ago. The 2025 YTD institutional outflows are predominantly from its index products, which lost US$93 billion from institutional clients, but it has gained positive flows of US$15 billion into its active funds.
Total BlackRock AUM stands at US$12.5 trillion, up from US$10.6 trillion a year ago.
Private markets as a sector, where BlackRock stated it is making a big push to boost its presence, has seen inflows of US$13.9 billion to see AUM reach US$215 billion.
The firm has completed multiple acquisitions in recent months in a bid to grow its private market capabilities. These include private markets research house Preqin in July 2024, Global Infrastructure Partners in October 2024, HPS Investment Partners in July 2025, and it has since announced it will be acquiring real estate investment firm ElmTree Funds.
A new Private Financing Solutions (PFS) business, led by HPS chief executive Scott Kapnick, will combine the firm’s private credit, GP and LP solutions, and private and liquid CLO businesses into one integrated platform. The core of this will be a US$190 billion integrated private credit franchise as well as a platform to deliver public and private income solutions.
At its Investor Day earlier this year, it identified at least four new $500 million revenue-generating businesses which are being built from the ground up, one of which is described as “private markets to wealth”. This includes by providing personalised multi-asset wealth portfolios at scale with customised model solutions that incorporate public and private market investments.
