BlackRock enters the TikTok fray with ‘financial wellness’ account
The world’s biggest asset manager BlackRock has joined the TikTok craze with an account dedicated to “financial wellness” tips.
BlackRock, which has around $10tn in assets under management, has so far posted one video featuring a group of young professionals who urge TikTokers to follow for “tips on financial wellness.”
The account currently boasts 268 followers and uses the tagline “championing financial inclusion for more and more people”.
Frank Cooper, global chief marketing officer at BlackRock told Financial News the platform offered the firm a chance to speak to a new generation of investors.
“We’re looking at TikTok because it has become one of the critical places the next generation of investors are learning about money,” he said.
BlackRock boss Larry Fink has been a champion of financial inclusion and the firm has previously donated $589m of shares in a mortgage financing firm to a philanthropic effort aimed at boosting socio-economic mobility.
The move comes as financial giants ramp up efforts to tap into a younger generation of investors, with JP Morgan snapping up robo-adviser Nutmeg last year and UBS this week acquiring digital wealth manager Wealthfront.
TikTok, which has more than one billion active monthly users, has seen a surge in demand for finance content and would provide BlackRock with a platform to reach a younger audience.
The platform has also showed an appetite to reach a younger audience of investors in the past, having led a $50 million investment round in Acorns, a microinvesting site that encourages young people to invest spare change in the market.