Morgan Stanley and Citi wealth executives are seeing private markets increasingly shape their businesses, marking a major shift from liquid assets that historically drove financial markets. Morgan Stanley has boosted offerings for rich clients investing in closely held businesses in recent years, largely as companies prolong their paths to initial public offerings. Citigroup’s rich clients typically now have more than a quarter of their portfolios allocated to private markets.
“The economy is private,” Dennis said in a panel discussion alongside Liu at Bloomberg’s Women, Money & Power event in London on Tuesday. It’s where “value creation is largely occurring.”