BlackRock's Shares in Major Swiss Investment Institutions

BlackRock holds around 5.8% of all listed companies in Switzerland. Many of these belong to the financial sector, which in turn holds large parts of the Swiss economy. In purely mathematical terms, these indirect holdings are easy to understand: BlackRock holds 5.8% of UBS, which in turn holds 2.15% of all publicly listed companies in Switzerland. Multiplying 0.058 by 0.0215 shows that BlackRock indirectly holds an additional 0.1% of all listed companies in Switzerland via UBS. The same applies to all larger financial institutions in Switzerland. The effect is multiplied further because these in turn own each other.

Influence via indirect Investment

It would be possible to calculate an exact figure, but how meaningful would this figure actually be? Much more important is the question of what influence BlackRock, as UBS's largest investor, has on the big bank. The same applies to Credit Suisse (6.1%), Swiss Re (6.6%) and Swiss Life (7.1%), where BlackRock is also the most important shareholder. This chain of influence through indirect holdings can indeed be observed for most Swiss financial institutions. It seems to be particularly relevant to examine these hidden mechanisms using the example of BlackRock as it is one of the most important shareholders in almost every publicly listed Swiss company.

Does BlackRock's influence on Swiss companies multiply in the same way as its indirect shareholding? Does its voice reverberate even greater due to its large shareholding in many financial institutions? (How) can this be quantified and what are the possible consequences of such phenomenon?