The US banking regulator gives BlackRock a February deadline on bank stakes, Bloomberg reports

(Reuters) – The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has given BlackRock Inc. (NYSE:) a new deadline of Feb. 10 to resolve an issue related to the oversight of the asset manager’s investments in FDIC-regulated banking institutions, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday. Quoted by three people. Knowing about it.

The FDIC may open an investigation into BlackRock and request more information from the company if it fails to make sufficient progress toward resolving the problems, the report said.

The move by the FDIC comes on the heels of a January 10 deadline that BlackRock failed to meet, according to the report.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation declined to comment, while BlackRock did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.

BlackRock has asked the FDIC to extend the deadline to reach an agreement on how the agency will oversee asset manager investments in FDIC-regulated banking institutions until March 31, according to a letter the company sent to regulators on Thursday and seen by Reuters.

That letter was the latest step in a months-long tug of war between the FDIC and the largest managers of index-based mutual funds and exchange-traded funds over the rules governing their passive investments in FDIC-regulated banks.

In late December, Vanguard Investments reached terms for such a negative agreement with the FDIC, which then immediately required BlackRock to sign a similar agreement by the January 10 deadline.

BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street (NYSE:) now collectively control about $26 trillion in assets. Since the 2009 financial crisis, investors have poured money into low-cost index funds, propelling the three companies into the ranks of the largest owners of most major U.S. companies.