BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said doing business in Saudi Arabia is “not something I’m ashamed of” and he expects the company to have a presence there for the foreseeable future.
“We have not lost any business there,” said Fink, adding that the firm has worked in the kingdom for 15 years. Fink made his comments at the New York Times DealBook conference on Thursday.
Asset managers have come under scrutiny for their investments in Saudi Arabia following the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Jamie Dimon was among the first banking executives to drop out of last month’s investment conference in Saudi Arabia, but he said this week that he doesn’t think it made a difference.
“We don’t know who is responsible for the murder,” Fink said Thursday. “Everybody has their own theories.”
Fink spoke on a range of issues at the conference. He said he thinks the U.S. and China are heading for a full fledged trade war. Fink added that disrupting relations with China could be fraught, as the country is the largest foreign creditor to the U.S.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.