BLACKROCK, the world’s largest money manager, cut fewer than 10 jobs in its municipal bond department under the new leadership of Patrick Haskell, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Haskell, a former co-head of fixed-income capital markets at Morgan Stanley, took over the group this year from Peter Hayes, who retired after nearly four decades managing state and local government debt.
“BlackRock continuously organises its teams to better serve the market and our clients, and this week aligned our municipal bond investment team to help us accelerate processes, improve information sharing and drive performance,” a BlackRock spokesperson wrote in an e-mailed statement.
BlackRock is widely known for its prowess in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and its muni bond, ETF, iShares National Muni Bond ETF, has grown to about US$37 billion since it was formed in 2007. Meanwhile, the New York-based firm’s biggest actively managed municipal bond fund is roughly US$8 billion. BlackRock also manages municipal bond separately managed accounts. BLOOMBERG
