A recent report from the global consultancy pinpoints factors it sees as causing major flows of money between parts of the world's asset management sector, such as a blurring between private and public market funds.

A convergence between traditional and alternative asset management, such as seen in the growth of “evergreen” funds, along with the rise of “active” exchange-traded funds,” could see between $6 trillion and $10.5 trillion of “money in motion” in the next five years, a report says. 

A study by the consultancy McKinsey & Co noted that asset management achieved its “long-anticipated rebound in 2024 and 2025, but it arrived with more grit than grace.”

Assets under management around the world reached a record $147 trillion by the end of June 2025. 

After a robust 2024, gains this year have moderated, the report entitled Asset Management 2025: The Great Convergence said. 

“Most managers rode the rising tide, but fewer did so with a similar surge in profitability. Margins stayed tight as costs kept climbing. The bull market lifted asset values, but it did not lift operating leverage,” it said. 

The report said one structural trend dominates: the “great convergence” between traditional and alternative asset management. 

“These two worlds are beginning to blend as public and private investing increasingly overlap, and as private capital managers penetrate deeper into wealth, defined contribution, and insurance channels. This convergence is showing up in dealmaking and partnerships across the public/private divide and through innovations such as semi-liquid products, evergreen funds, and public–private model portfolios,” the report said.

Other forces add to money moving around: a reassertion of home country bias as investors rotate from global to local exposures, and the growth of active ETFs.

Markets and net new money
The report said that 2024 was a “breakout year” for the asset management industry. Of that increase, about 70 per cent came from markets, as equity valuations surged. The remaining 30 per cent was net new money, reflecting renewed client demand from a variety of channels and strategies.

Year-on-year net flows for 2024 climbed for every region – 2.4 per cent in the Americas, 2.5 per cent in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), and a standout 8.4 per cent in Asia–Pacific. 

Trajectories of growth varied as well, with real acceleration coming from Europe and Asia: Europe’s net flows were nearly three times 2023 levels; Asia’s nearly doubled.

Indigestion and safety valves
The McKinsey report noted that after a period of rapid growth, private market investing – often mentioned in a wealth management context – is causing bloat and indigestion. 

After peaking at nearly $1.7 trillion in 2021, global private markets’ fundraising slid to roughly $1.1 trillion in 2024 – a return to 2017 levels. The slowdown was broad, but most pronounced in private equity and real estate where exits stayed muted, the report said. 

“Private credit and infrastructure decelerated far less than private equity and real estate. Credit continues to benefit from the refinancing of sponsor portfolios as well as new areas of demand such as asset-backed finance and infrastructure lending. Infrastructure offers both inflation-protected, long-dated yields and exposure to a broadening range of 'new economy’ assets, such as data centers,” it said. 

“Private wealth channels and secondaries have proved to be a bright spot in the industry. In private wealth, evergreen vehicles and semi-liquid fund structures have gained substantial traction among high-net-worth and affluent investors,” it said. In the US, these vehicles grew to $348 billion in AuM and attracted $64 billion in inflows in 2024.

Secondaries are now a critical release valve, with global AuM above $700 billion and roughly $130 billion raised in 2024, it said. (With secondaries, an investor buys or sells pre-existing stakes in private markets from other investors.)

“Together, flows from private wealth and secondaries are now injecting meaningful new capital into the ecosystem, backfilling an estimated 15 to 20 per cent of the annual fundraising shortfall compared to 2021,” it said.