Funds Congress Highlights

Moderator: Lizzy Buss, Managing Director, Carne Group

• Tim Boole, Head of Product, Schroders Capital
• Nick Millington, Managing Director for Private Wealth, Blackstone
• Keith Phillips, Chief Executive, Platforms Association

This panel examined the transition of retail access to private markets from theory to implementation. Panellists agreed that demand drivers including return potential and broader opportunity sets are universal, whilst supply-side enablers including regulation, platform operations, and education vary significantly by region. Evergreen vehicles and new regimes including EU ELTIF and UK LTAF are catalysing access, but success depends on operational standardisation, cost-to-serve economics, and clear liquidity education.

The access gap and economic rationale: Institutional investors typically hold 20 to 40 per cent allocations to private assets, whilst individual investors hold less than 3 per cent. With approximately 90 per cent of commercial real estate and large companies in private ownership, access is important for diversification and return potential.

Evergreen funds as the primary retail vehicle: Evergreen fund structures provide immediate diversified access with lower minimums ranging from approximately £10,000 to £25,000. Liquidity design incorporates multiple mechanisms including liquidity sleeves, natural portfolio cash flows, soft lock-up periods, and capped redemptions. Critical education is required to ensure investors understand these remain long-term illiquid assets despite periodic liquidity features. Experience from existing evergreen funds shows measured flows even through stress periods, with average holding periods around 10 years, validating the structural approach.

Regulatory frameworks enabling access: The EU’s ELTIF 2.0 broadened eligibility criteria and facilitated evergreen structures, whilst the UK’s long-term asset fund serves as the key retail vehicle. Singapore is consulting on retail access frameworks, indicating broader Asian momentum. Regulators view retail private markets access as existentially important for pension adequacy.

Platform operational challenges: The shift from daily-priced public funds to episodic illiquid flows requires new distribution infrastructure. Suitability assessment at scale presents significant challenges, and product innovation has outpaced platform capabilities. Active collaboration through initiatives such as the Retail LTAF Delivery Group aims to resolve operational complexities during 2026. Key areas to monitor include operational standardisation, education initiatives supporting gradual allocation increases, and interconnectedness between private markets access, AI adoption, and operating model transformation.

Strategic partnerships rationale: Partnerships prove useful when capabilities are complementary, with examples including Blackstone’s collaborations with Vanguard, Wellington, and Legal & General. AI is a strategic priority across platforms, with proven back-office efficiency gains already being realised and client-facing use cases on the frontier. AI can help democratise saving and investing if deployed with appropriate stewardship and guardrails.