BlackRock Data Leak Also Ensnared Envestnet Advisers

(Bloomberg) -- Financial advisers served by technology provider Envestnet Inc. were among the thousands affected by a data leak at BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager.

Envestnet was informed by BlackRock that some adviser information was inadvertently released, Estee Jimerson, managing director and head of asset manager distribution at Envestnet, said in a statement issued Tuesday.

“We are engaged with BlackRock to better understand the content and the advisors who were included in the document,” she said. “BlackRock is in the process of informing impacted firms and we are closely monitoring the situation.”

Bloomberg News first reported Jan. 18 that BlackRock inadvertently released names, email addresses and other information on about 20,000 financial advisers who do business with the firm’s iShares exchange-traded funds unit. That number includes the Envestnet-linked advisers. In total, Envestnet serves more than 92,000 advisers.

The leak included information on about 12,000 advisers who are clients at LPL Financial, the largest U.S. independent broker dealer. LPL informed advisers over the weekend that BlackRock posted details about some of them on its website.

BlackRock attributed the incident to human error. In a statement issued Monday, BlackRock said it “recognizes the seriousness of the error and we deeply regret that it occurred. We always seek to treat the information entrusted to us with great care.”

The firm declined to comment further on Tuesday.

In November, Envestnet and BlackRock entered a partnership to provide financial advisers with technology. As part of that arrangement, BlackRock agreed to acquire an equity stake of about 4.9 percent in Chicago-based Envestnet.

To contact the reporter on this story: Annie Massa in New York at amassa12@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Alan Mirabella, Josh Friedman

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