As investor demand moves beyond public exchanges, capital-markets firms increasingly need the infrastructure to support private-market activity within their own financial ecosystems
Private markets are moving into the mainstream, changing not only how investors allocate capital but also what they expect from the institutions that serve them. According to Hamilton Lane’s 2026 Global Private Wealth Survey, which included 390 private wealth professionals across four regions, 86% of respondents plan to increase their private-market allocations during 2026.
For companies operating within this ecosystem – including Forge Global, now owned by Charles Schwab; Nasdaq Private Market’s SecondMarket; EquityZen, now owned by Morgan Stanley; independent marketplace Hiive; and infrastructure provider Secondary Suite – the direction is becoming clear. Banks, brokers, wealth managers, and other established institutions have long provided the infrastructure through which clients access public securities. As investor interest expands beyond public exchanges, they will increasingly need the capability to support private-market activity as well.
Private Markets Move Into the Mainstream
Private assets once belonged to a relatively contained financial world. Specialist funds, secondary brokers, and well-connected investors relied on personal networks to locate opportunities and bring buyers and sellers together. Transactions were infrequent enough to be coordinated through individual relationships, spreadsheets, email threads, and shared folders.
That world is expanding. Companies are remaining private for longer, shareholders are seeking liquidity before traditional exit events, and investors are looking beyond listed securities for access to companies at earlier stages of development.
The reasons cited in Hamilton Lane’s survey reflect this change. Although portfolio optimization was the leading factor, respondents also pointed to client demand and competitive positioning, suggesting that private markets are becoming part of the relationship between financial institutions and their clients.
Investment banks, broker-dealers, wealth managers, and family offices may not have originated in the private secondary market, but their clients are moving toward it. As demand becomes more consistent, supporting private-market activity begins to look less like an occasional service and more like an institutional capability.
When Access Means Sending the Client Elsewhere
When an institution cannot meet a client’s interest in private markets, the practical solution is often to direct that client toward an external marketplace or specialist provider. This may solve the immediate need, but it also moves an important part of the relationship beyond the institution.
The external provider controls how opportunities are presented, how transactions are managed, and what information is generated through the client’s activity. What begins as a convenient referral may eventually make another platform the client’s natural destination for future transactions.
This matters because clients are unlikely to preserve the financial industry’s traditional boundaries between public and private markets. From their perspective, both form part of the same investment landscape. If their existing financial partner can guide them through only one side of it, they may look elsewhere for the other.
Hamilton Lane’s findings underline the commercial implications. Among respondents planning to increase allocations in 2026, 46% cited client demand and 48% cited competitive positioning. Private-market access is therefore becoming relevant not only as an investment service, but also as a way for institutions to protect and deepen their client relationships.
Bringing the Capability Inside
Providing this access requires more than displaying a selection of private companies. Unlike public securities, private-market opportunities may involve different eligibility rules, information rights, documentation, transaction structures, and approval processes.
Institutions must manage buyers and sellers, control access to sensitive information, coordinate expressions of interest and documentation, and maintain visibility as transactions move through multiple stages. Building all of this internally would require significant investment, development time, and specialized knowledge.
Dedicated secondary-market infrastructure changes that equation. Institutions can bring private-market capabilities into their own offering without developing every component from scratch. The infrastructure can operate behind an institution-branded environment, allowing the institution to retain control over its client experience, information, workflows, and commercial model.
The ecosystem includes companies such as Forge Global and Hiive, which operate marketplaces connecting buyers and sellers of private shares; EquityZen, offering investment access through special-purpose vehicles; and Secondary Suite, whose technology enables capital-markets participants to manage private-company opportunities, counterparties, market information, communications, and transaction workflows within a single environment. Rather than replacing the institution, the technology becomes an operational layer through which it can extend its existing services into private markets.
The Competitive Question Is Shifting
Institutions that develop this capability can retain visibility over investor demand, connect relevant buyers and sellers more efficiently, and build new services around relationships they already hold. Those that do not may continue directing both their clients and the value surrounding those clients toward external providers.
For years, capital-markets firms built the systems through which investors entered the public markets. As private investments move closer to the financial mainstream, the next competitive advantage may belong to those that open a second door.
