Even as BlackRock reported a 65 percent slide in its first quarter net income on Tuesday, chairman and CEO Larry Fink struck a sanguine tone.

"Our business model is unique, and we are picking up more of our clients' wallets," according to Fink, as reported by Joseph Checkler in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal Fund Track column.

New York City-based BlackRock earned $84 million in the first three months of 2009, down from $241 million last year. It ended the first quarter with AUM of $1.23 trillion, representing a 2 percent drop from the prior quarter and a 6 percent drop from the year-ago period, as new business amounting to $5.6 billion largely offset declining asset values.

Aside from offering mutual funds, BlackRock also has a substantial alternative-investment business, which helped it avoid losing as much assets as more-traditional asset management firms, Checkler noted in the column.

Meanwhile, Fink sees "huge consolidation" in the asset management business. 

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