ETFs & Mutual Funds

BlackRock Seeks to Mimic Vanguard’s Exclusive Tax-Saving Funds

  • Vanguard’s patent on tax-busting fund design expired last year
  • BlackRock is largest firm asking SEC to use Vanguard model

The Blackrock headquarters in New York.

Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
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BlackRock Inc. is looking to gain ground over its top rival as it seeks to replicate a unique fund blueprint that helped Vanguard Group Inc. save its clients billions of dollars on taxes for two decades.

The Larry Fink-led firm filed on Wednesday for permission to create exchange-traded fund share classes of its mutual funds, a design that would port the tax advantages of the ETF wrapper onto billions of new assets.