On Tuesday, internationally active fintech iCapital and finews.com jointly hosted an event on a much-discussed topic in the financial industry: «Private Markets as an Opportunity for Wealth Managers and their Clients.»
Private market investments are not new in the financial world. They've been around for a long time, but in the past were mainly reserved for very wealthy investors and were often highly illiquid. But that's been changing.
Today, it's important to know what «private markets» actually mean, and what should be different. It was the topic of last Tuesday's event at Zurich's Widder Hotel in Zurich, organized by iCapital and finews.com. Here are some of our impressions:
Blackrock's country head for Switzerland Mirjam Staub-Bisang, Marco Bizzozero, head of international at iCapital, and Thomas Bischoff, head of private markets partnerships at Vontobel discussed the topic with Claude Baumann, founder, and publisher of finews.com.
Private Markets Universe
Private markets include investments in unlisted private companies and bonds (private equity), along with private infrastructure and real estate projects. iCapital connects nearly 300 asset managers and their private markets investment offerings with the world's leading asset managers and banks through its digital platform.
«Democratization» of Private Markets
This is leading to a «democratization» of private market investments, which are now available to smaller investors and are opening unique opportunities for wealth managers and their clients.
finews.com sat down with iCapital CEO Lawrence Calcano last year to discuss these trends and how Capital sees the asset class developing.
