The company announced the departure of the former CPPIB head Thursday morning. “I engaged in a consensual relationship with one of our colleagues without reporting it,” Wiseman said in an internal memo Thursday. “I regret my mistake and I accept responsibility for my actions.” Wiseman’s wife, Marcia Moffat, is a partner at the firm and its head of Canadian business. (The Logic)

Talking point: Wiseman headed up the firm’s active equities division, which has roughly US$300 billion under management, and was one of the favourites to succeed BlackRock’s co-founder and CEO Larry Fink. Wiseman is the second senior executive to leave BlackRock this year after violating company policies; human resources head Jeff Smith exited in the summer. In a memo of their own Thursday announcing Wiseman’s termination, Fink and president Rob Kapito wrote, “This is not who BlackRock is. This is not our culture. We expect every employee to uphold the highest standards of behavior. This is especially critical for our senior leaders.” Wiseman’s dismissal shows how companies are taking personal conduct more seriously. According to the Conference Board’s 2019 CEO Succession Practices report, released yesterday, five of the 18 non-voluntary CEO departures over the past year were related to personal conduct and #MeToo allegations. That’s especially noteworthy given that only one CEO between 2013 to 2017 was fired as a result of personal conduct unrelated to performance, according to the Conference Board.