BlackRock executives say they are leveraging its summertime HPS Investment Partners acquisition to by turbocharging it’s focus on insurers seeking private credit exposure.
"BlackRock is the largest insurance company general account manager in the industry with over $700 billion of assets across core fixed income," said Martin Small, BlackRock's CFO, during the October 14 call, adding that the asset manager is positioning itself as the go-to partner for insurance companies navigating the public-private investment convergence.
The HPS acquisition, which closed just three months ago, has already exceeded expectations in broadening the firm's expansion into the insurance space.
"Client engagement is even stronger than we expected, especially in the insurance and wealth channels. We're positioned to be a preferred capital partner with insurers while maintaining our balance sheet light approach," CEO Larry Fink told investors.
Key to the asset management firm's plans with HPS is rotating insurance client portfolios toward private credit opportunities.
The moves come as both financial policymakers and rating agencies raise credit concerns around insurers focus on private credit exposure.
The firm currently has "over 20 conversations going on now with the largest leading insurers in the general account about building private ABF and building private high-grade exposures," Small said. These discussions represent a significant pipeline of potential mandates as insurers seek to optimize their investment portfolios in a changing rate environment.
The integration of HPS brought specialized talent in private credit origination, asset management, and insurance solutions. The executives said that combining that with the firm's Aladdin technology platform creates a pipeline for insurers looking to build sophisticated public-private portfolios. Small noted that the team expects to "see some wins pull through" from ongoing discussions, with meaningful progress anticipated into 2026.
BlackRock's private credit platform now stands at $370 billion alongside its $3 trillion public fixed income franchise, according to the firm. BlackRock said it is seeing "steady allocations" to its non-traded BDCs and strong deployment numbers, even as the broader private credit market faces scrutiny.\
Management emphasized their heritage of "rigorous underwriting" and protecting client principal, noting that recent high-profile private credit issues have largely been in syndicated loan markets rather than direct lending books.
BlackRock's approach to insurance asset management is highly customized, with Small arguing the firm is putting significant resources against the mandates.
"Insurance company asset management is a really highly customized effort working with clients every single day. It's not an arrangement where clients say, let's give you some money and here's a benchmark go beat it," Small said. "You're highly connected. You're basically in-sourced by the company to be looking at premium cash flows every day, to be thinking about credit every day, to be thinking about the intersection of accounting and capital in managing those portfolios."
BlackRock reported third-quarter 2025 earnings with assets under management reaching a record $13.5 trillion, up 17% from $11.5 trillion a year earlier and up from $12.5 trillion in the second quarter. The firm generated $205 billion in quarterly net inflows, compared to $221 billion in Q3 2024 and $84 billion in Q2 2025.
Revenue totaled $6.5 billion, representing a 25% increase from $5.2 billion in the third quarter of 2024 and a 20% rise from $5.4 billion in the second quarter of 2025.
Performance fees totaled $516 million, up 33% from a year ago and significantly higher than the $94 million recorded in Q2 2025.
