Buy side builds bots to cut trade costs

With margins under pressure, investment firms are looking to accelerate automation push

It’s not easy being Larry Fink. The head of BlackRock, who has seen the asset manager grow into a $7 trillion investment giant during his 30 years at the helm, is having to lay off staff. Around 3% of the firm’s global employees.

Fink is not alone. Greg Johnson, the boss at Franklin Templeton, is shedding as much as 5% of headcount as the firm adjusts to losing a fifth of its assets under management during the past five years.

The retrenchment at these two companies is a familiar theme across