The European Commission has been criticised by the EU's independent ombudsman for failing to properly scrutinise potential conflicts of interest when awarding a lucrative contract to BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager.

Brussels announced in March that it has appointed BlackRock Investment Management to advise on integrating sustainability into EU banking rules. The US asset manager beat eight other bidders to win the €280,000 contract. New York-headquartered BlackRock, which manages $7.8tn in assets, was the only large investment manager among the pool of potential bidders.