Private Markets and Wealth Management: The Next Phase of Growth
After two decades dominated by institutional investors, private markets are entering a new phase of development. Private wealth management is now taking an increasingly central role.
For private banks, multi-family offices, and independent wealth managers, the stakes are strategic. Private markets not only offer diversification and the potential to enhance long-term portfolio returns, but also provide an opportunity to develop sustainable revenue streams.
However, building a credible private markets offering remains complex. Investment structures, operational processes, and reporting systems have historically been designed for institutional investors. Translating these into the wealth management context often creates friction.
This is precisely the challenge ROYC addresses by providing dedicated operating infrastructure for private markets, combining investment structuring, allocation solutions, and digital infrastructure.
We spoke with Mathias Leijon, Founder and President of ROYC, and Lucas Stalder, Director – Client Solutions, to understand how the private markets ecosystem is evolving and what wealth management institutions need to develop their offering.
Private equity activity has slowed in Europe. Is this a temporary pause or a more structural shift?
Leijon: It is more of a repricing than a collapse. For over a decade, capital was extremely cheap. With rising interest rates, transactions are taking longer and exits are more challenging, which slows activity. However, the long-term fundamentals of private equity remain strong.
Private investors think differently from institutional investors. What does this mean in practice?
Stalder: Institutional investors are familiar with private market dynamics: vintages, capital calls, diversification across managers, and multi-year investment programs.
Private investors take a more outcome-oriented approach: building long-term wealth, generating income, and diversifying portfolios. They also expect an experience similar to the rest of wealth management—simple onboarding, clear reporting, and accessible investment sizes.
Adapting private markets to this reality requires changes in both investment structures and operational infrastructure.
Demand for evergreen and semi-liquid structures is increasing. Why?
Stalder: These structures better align with how private investors deploy capital. Traditional private equity funds involve long commitments and irregular capital calls.
Evergreen structures allow investors to build exposure progressively, invest more flexibly, and reinvest distributions over time.
Which strategies are currently attracting the most interest from private investors?
Leijon: Mid-market buyouts, secondaries, and infrastructure are particularly relevant.
Infrastructure provides access to long-term, real-economy assets and often offers inflation protection. Secondary strategies allow investment in more mature portfolios and typically provide greater visibility on distribution flows.
Together, these strategies support a balanced allocation between value creation potential and cash flow stability.
Many banks and asset managers are looking to expand their private markets offering. What is holding them back today?
Stalder: Client demand is clearly there. The main challenges are operational, as well as related to how these solutions are distributed and advised. In practice, four recurring obstacles emerge.
The first is access: minimum investment sizes are often too high for private clients.
The second is operations: subscription processes, capital calls, and administrative tracking remain largely manual in many organizations.
The third is portfolio construction: clients need coherent programs, not just a collection of funds.
Finally, reporting: investors do not want to log into multiple portals to track their investments.
How does ROYC address these challenges?
Stalder: ROYC acts as an infrastructure partner for wealth management institutions.
Our objective is to enable them to deploy and manage private market investment programs efficiently and at scale. Our approach is built on two core elements.
The first is structuring. We create investment vehicles tailored to private clients, including regulated feeder funds, fund-of-funds solutions, and evergreen structures that aggregate allocations from multiple investors to reach institutional ticket sizes.
The second is operational infrastructure. Our operating system digitalizes the entire investment lifecycle: investor onboarding, KYC, subscriptions, capital calls, distributions, and reporting.
This approach enables banks, wealth managers, and family offices to launch and scale a private markets offering without building their own operational infrastructure.
The next growth driver for private markets
Leijon: For banks, wealth managers, and family offices, the opportunity is significant.
However, private markets cannot scale in wealth management with manual processes and fragmented systems.
Institutions that build the right infrastructure will gain a meaningful competitive advantage.
By combining structuring, investment access, and digital operations, ROYC enables its partners to expand their private markets offering while maintaining full control of the client relationship.
This article was originally published in SPHERE Magazine (Issue 36, April 2026). The original version is available in the publication.