BlackRock chief Larry Fink said Thursday that negative and low interest rates around the world are crushing savers, and those policies are "going to become the biggest crisis globally."
In an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box," Fink called on political leaders to step in and provide fiscal reform to complement monetary policy.
"We have become too dependent on central bankers" to boost the global economies, he said, stressing easy money policies were supposed to be a temporary healing. "I don't call seven, eight years temporary. ... I don't see how that [still] has a positive impact."
"Over 70 percent of our clients are retirement plans and insurance plans. Our clients are in pain," the BlackRock chairman and CEO said. "Our clients are very worried how they're going to be meet their liabilities" because the yields are so low in the bond market.
Fink also said the U.S. stock market should be higher than current levels by year-end.
"I believe that after we who know the Republican candidate is and who the Democratic candidate is, you're going to hear great commentary about fiscal reform," he said. "The major part of the rally is going to be when you are hearing government officials talking."
In January, when financial markets were melting down, Fink told CNBC the stock market could fall another 10 percent, saying at the time, "I believe there's not enough blood in the street."
On Thursday, he said the market had gotten about "70 percent of the blood."
While he sees stocks going higher, Fink pointed to some uncertainties. "We have the issues of Brexit. We have elections in Japan this May. We obviously have our own elections," he said.
The referendum in Britain about whether the country should stay in the European Union is scheduled to be held in two months.
"My instincts are if the vote was today, which it's not, I think a Brexit would happen," Fink said. "Many things can happen between now and June, so I would not be saying it's going to happen."
But he believes an exit would be "harmful to the U.K. economy" and "would raise viability questions about the EU."
Also Thursday, BlackRock said it earned an adjusted $4.25 per share in the first quarter, 4 cents below estimates and 13 percent lower than the year-earlier period.
Revenue of $2.62 billion was also below forecasts and 4 percent lower than last year's first quarter number.
"When you think about what happened in the first quarter, the markets fell double-digits [at one point]," Fink said. "When you have that type of volatility you have uncertainty from our clients. The clients are pulling back."
The world's largest asset manager attracted total long-term net inflows of nearly $36.1 billion in the quarter.
BlackRock also announced a 5 percent increase in its quarterly dividend to $2.29 per share and $300 million of share repurchases. Its stock price was down more than 2 percent in premarket trading Thursday.