The development speaks to how the market for accessing alternative investments continues to expand.

UBS Global Wealth Management has extended its partnership with iCapital Network the fintech platform for alternative investments, adding information and analytics that UBS clients can use from the platform. UBS first became a strategic investor in iCapital in 2017.

Under the arrangement, UBS will use iCapital’s technology and solutions, which digitise and automate the lifecycle of private market investments.

“This partnership will significantly reduce the operational difficulties and many manual, paper-based transaction processes that advisors and their clients have historically faced when investing in this asset class,” UBS said in a statement yesterday. 

The arrangement is another turn in New York-based iCapital’s ascent as a platform for investment areas such as private equity, credit, infrastructure, property and hedge funds. The group has inked a number of partnerships with wealth and investment management groups, tapping into rising demand for alternative investments. At a time when ultra-low interest rates have squeezed yields on listed equities and government bonds, alternatives have boomed. Globally, the market for alternative investments is worth more than $10.7 trillion, expected to rise by 9.8 per cent by 2025, UBS said.

At present, the world’s population of high net worth individuals has a total of almost $80 trillion of wealth. Historically, their allocations to alternatives have lagged behind institutions such as pension and insurance funds.

“The seamless integration of iCapital’s platform into our advisors’ systems reinforces our strategic focus on private markets and improves efficiency and access to information,” Bruno Marxer, head of CIO Global Investment Mandates at UBS Global Wealth Management, said.

Marco Bizzozero, head of international at iCapital Network, said the expanded partnership was a “key milestone.” (This news service recently interviewed Bizzozero about iCapital’s strategy.)