Scottish Widows has awarded a contract to manage £30 billion in passive index strategies to BlackRock. : Scottish Widows has awarded the contract to manage £30 billion in passive index strategies to BlackRock under the terms of a wider collaboration agreement on alternative assets and technology. As revealed by Citywire's New Model Adviser® in August, this agreement is likely to include platform technology aimed at retail investors. The agreement follows the group’s decision at the beginning of the year to pull a £109 billion mandate from Aberdeen Asset Management following the fund group’s merger with Standard Life.