If private markets are going to sit alongside public assets in more investors’ portfolios, the infrastructure needs to allow the two to work together, according to FE fundinfo's head of private markets

Ninety per cent of wealth managers surveyed believe they are well-equipped to manage the convergence of public and private assets, yet only 20 per cent rate their private markets data connectivity as well connected or better, and 6 per cent as fully integrated, according to new research from London-headquartered FE fundinfo.

The Private Markets Survey Report 2026 reveals a gap between respondents’ confidence in their readiness and the operational infrastructure currently available to support private markets growth.

Private markets are moving higher up asset and wealth managers’ strategic and distribution agendas. Two-thirds of wealth managers rank private markets as a high priority over the next three years, 28 per cent are already targeting retail clients for private markets access, and 51 per cent see model portfolio providers as a key distribution channel, the survey shows. Delivering on this demand will depend on improvements to data infrastructure and platform capabilities.

The research, which surveyed 200 senior asset and wealth managers across the UK, Switzerland and Luxembourg, makes clear that data remains a major barrier to scaling private markets. Operational complexity and data quality ranked as the top two barriers to scaling retail and high net worth access, with limited liquidity options third.  

Forty-six per cent of wealth managers still rely on frequent manual data reconciliation, despite 90 per cent believing they are equipped to manage public-private convergence; 83 per cent of asset managers believe they are well-equipped for public-private convergence, yet just 5 per cent have fully integrated data connectivity; and 78 per cent of wealth managers and 72 per cent of asset managers said limited comparability between public and private assets is hindering their private markets strategies.

The findings also question some of the conventional assumptions about what is holding private markets back. While liquidity has dominated much of the industry’s debate, just 18 per cent of respondents identified it as a major barrier to scaling access for retail and high net worth clients. Meanwhile, suitability and client understanding were the biggest portfolio-level sticking points for these clients, cited by 45 per cent of asset managers and 36 per cent of wealth managers.

Firms are already beginning to respond to these challenges. Portfolio analytics is the leading investment priority for asset managers (65 per cent), while 57 per cent of wealth managers are prioritising workflow automation. Around half of wealth managers and 54 per cent of asset managers expect specialist vendors to be the primary route for enhancing their private markets capabilities, compared with just 14 per cent and 11 per cent respectively planning to build solutions mostly in-house.

“If private markets are going to sit alongside public assets in more investors’ portfolios, the infrastructure needs to allow the two to work together,” Maryam Longrus, head of private markets at FE fundinfo, said.

FE fundinfo is a financial data company connecting the investment industry in the UK, Europe and Asia Pacific through Nexus, its single integrated platform.