BLK BlackRock Inc

By Dawn Lim 

A potential heir to the top job at BlackRock Inc. has been ousted from the money-management giant for failing to disclose a relationship with a colleague.

Mark Wiseman rose from Canada's public-pension world to become a protégé to BlackRock's chief executive, Laurence Fink. He was terminated for violating company policy. BlackRock requires employees to disclose any relationships -- whether they are with direct subordinates or with other colleagues -- to the company.

"I engaged in a consensual relationship with one of our colleagues without reporting it," Mr. Wiseman in a firm memo Thursday. "I regret my mistake and I accept responsibility for my actions."

Mr. Wiseman is married to Marcia Moffat, a BlackRock executive who heads the firm's Canada business. The two were seen as a power couple at the world's largest asset manager.

"We expect every employee to uphold the highest standards of behavior," Mr. Fink and President Rob Kapito said in a separate firmwide memo. They added: "When the firm becomes aware of a breach of policy or conduct that is not in line with our values, we move quickly and decisively to address it."

Mr. Wiseman's firing marks a swift fall for the man who was the face of the roughly $7 trillion indexing giant's ambitions to find new reach outside funds that track markets. He headed BlackRock's approximately $300 billion active equities business and directed the strategy for another business focused on private equity and other alternatives.

Mr. Wiseman was hired in 2016 from Canada's pension investor, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. He was among half a dozen candidates vying for the top job to succeed Mr. Fink.

During his three-year tenure at BlackRock, he fell short of some targets.

His recent bid to turn BlackRock, king of the low-fee exchange-traded fund, into a private-equity titan has gone slower than expected, according to people familiar with the matter. This has cost him clout at the firm, they said.

With Mr. Wiseman's departure, BlackRock's alternatives business will continue to be led by Edwin Conway, who heads day-to-day operations, and Jim Barry, who leads investments. The leaders of the various active equity strategies will report to Mr. Kapito while BlackRock assesses how to structure leadership over that business.

Write to Dawn Lim at dawn.lim@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 05, 2019 12:38 ET (17:38 GMT)

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