The wealth management industry slows down its bet on private markets: costs, liquidity, and transparency hinder growth
27 NOV, 2025
By Joanna Piwko from RankiaPro Europe
The global wealth management industry faces 2026 at a turning point: expansion expectations in private markets are cooling due to the growing weight of high costs, lack of liquidity, and less transparency, according to the 'Global Wealth Study 2025' prepared by the Thinking Ahead Institute (WTW).
The report gathers the vision of 250 professionals from 151 firms in 27 countries —who collectively manage 15.1 trillion dollars— sketching a sector that evolves simultaneously due to business pressure, technological disruption, and demographic change.
Private markets: product innovation without proportional traction in allocation
Despite the proliferation of vehicles designed to channel private capital towards private banking clients —ELTIFs in Europe, Interval Funds in the United States, and LTAFs in the United Kingdom— the study concludes that entities do not expect significant allocation increases in the next 2–3 years. The cause is not a lack of structural interest, but implementation frictions:
- High costs as the main barrier in North America and continental Europe.
- Limited liquidity as the number one obstacle in the United Kingdom.
- Insufficient transparency as a cross-cutting element that reinforces the investment brake.
In other words: the "regulatory wrapper" improves, but the economic and operational attributes of the asset class continue to condition its scalability in wealth.
Increasing outsourcing
The technical and operational complexity of private capital is modifying the value chain of advice. 46% of the surveyed firms outsource all or the majority of decisions in private markets, far above the delegation observed in liquid assets (27% in bonds and 23% in listed equity).
This data is especially relevant for professional investors for two implications:
- Increased role of specialists and platforms capable of due diligence, structuring, and monitoring of illiquids.
- Risk of portfolio homogenization if the industry converges on few suppliers and strategies.
Unequal allocation by regions: Asia and Europe at the forefront
The penetration of illiquids is not homogeneous. The report shows clear differences in portfolio architecture:
- Asia-Pacific: ~40% of portfolios in private markets.
- Continental Europe: ~34%.
- United Kingdom: ~24%.
- North America: ~26%.
In the future, the commercial and investor focus is mainly oriented towards Europe (84%), Asia-Pacific (78%) and North America (63%), indicating that geographical interest exists, but its translation into allocation will depend on resolving current frictions.
The great generational transfer reshapes priorities and services
Beyond asset allocation, the study places the generational transfer of wealth as the most disruptive structural driver of the next cycle: trillions of dollars will pass from Baby Boomers to Gen X and Millennials, with direct consequences on how the service is designed and delivered.
The origin of wealth also changes by region: in Asia-Pacific and Continental Europe the majority of clients generate wealth via business ownership (76% and 67%), while in the United Kingdom and North America inherited wealth dominates (77% and 69%).
This shift forces firms to strengthen capabilities in efficient tax structuring (54%), asset allocation and portfolio design (43%), and inheritance/intergenerational transfer planning (34%). And, again, with strong support in external advisors when internal scale is not sufficient.
Finally, the report shows an evolution in the conversation with the HNW/UHNW client: capital preservation and macro/geopolitical risk management gain weight, without displacing the objective of wealth growth. In addition, the demand to align portfolios with personal values (sustainability, impact, social criteria) intensifies, pushing towards a more comprehensive, digital and personalized advisory model.
Oriol Ramírez-Monsonis, director in the Investments area at WTW, maintains that, as the wealth management market grows and evolves in Spain, "it is increasingly important that entities deeply understand the expectations of new generations and the factors that guide their investment decisions, as well as the demands derived from the demographic changes we are observing, the sources of wealth and how each factor varies regionally, to effectively adapt their services".
