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Mark Wiedman, a senior managing director for the world's largest
asset manager, donated $2,700 to Kasich's unsuccessful campaign
when the politician was seeking the Republican Party nomination
in 2016, according to public records. The money was later
returned.
A federal securities rule prohibits companies' executive
officers from making donations to government officials who could
influence the hiring of a fund manager and then providing asset
management services to those governments for a fee. The ban is
in effect for two years after the contribution is made.
Ohio uses BlackRock-managed funds, and its relationship with the
asset manager predated the donation, BlackRock said when it
asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to let
it accept fees from the state, noting that exceptions to the
rule have been granted before.
The SEC's ruling prevents BlackRock from facing a loss of
approximately $37 million, according to the New York-based
company's filing.
Wiedman is global head of iShares and index investments, a
booming business within BlackRock that includes its
exchange-traded funds. The iShares brand brought in nearly $35
billion of new cash into BlackRock in the first quarter.
BlackRock manages $6.3 trillion overall.
BlackRock declined to comment. Last year they said in a
statement that Wiedman made the contribution solely in support
of the campaign, and that both BlackRock and Wiedman promptly
worked to address the error after the company discovered the
contribution.
The company also said Wiedman asked for and received a refund of
his campaign contribution to Kasich and that its application to
be exempted from the rule was "fair and reasonable."
A spokesman for the SEC was not immediately available.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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