Private Markets Face Uneven Adoption Across Global Wealth Sectors

The MSCI Global Private Equity Closed-End Fund Index climbed to 5.6 percent in the second quarter, a notable jump from its 0.6 percent first-quarter performance. Private credit also gained momentum, with opportunistic lending leading the sector at 2.4 percent. However, these figures exist alongside a broader rally in public equities, where the MSCI ACWI IMI Index returned 15.1 percent. Market concentration remains a persistent theme, as the 10 largest companies now account for 26 percent of the index weight.

Advisory sentiment reflects a cautious outlook, particularly in Europe. According to iCapital’s survey of 380 financial professionals, alternative investment adoption is currently wide but shallow. While three-quarters of European advisors utilize these assets, nearly half report that fewer than one in 10 clients have allocated capital to them. Advisors cite a shortage of model portfolios as the primary barrier to broader integration, even as the share of those planning to increase allocations rose to 36 percent this year.

Asia presents a different landscape, where allocation intentions have spiked despite low penetration. In Hong Kong and Singapore, advisors have shifted their focus toward risk analytics, which now ranks as their top technology priority. Despite this interest, the region maintains the narrowest reach for alternative assets, with over half of respondents noting that fewer than 10 percent of their clients are currently invested in the space.