BlackRock finished the first quarter with more than half its assets under management in passively managed funds or exchange-traded products following its merger with Barclays Global Investors, as institutional investors shifted into indexed strategies over the period.

BlackRock announced first quarter net income of $423m (€317m), more than four times the $84m reported in the same period last year, but the comparison is imprecise because last year's figures do not include the absorption of BGI. Assets under management climbed $17.6bn in the quarter from the end of last year, finishing with $3.36 trillion.