- Alternative investments have reached 60% of single-family office portfolios, surpassing traditional assets for the first time, according to BNY Wealth figures cited by CNBC. Traditional assets accounted for 41% of allocations in the same report. The shift is showing up in flows: JPMorgan Asset Management’s private-wealth alternative assets in Asia-Pacific surged 40% over the past 12 months, regional CEO Dan Watkins said.
- John Woods, chief investment officer for Asia at Lombard Odier, said his firm is seeing “a sharp increase in planned asset allocation to alternatives among the family offices we speak to,” as investors confront concentrated equity markets, geopolitical uncertainty and concerns that stocks and bonds may not protect portfolios as they once did. He pointed to elevated valuations, tight credit spreads and a growing correlation between stocks and bonds as accelerants, while stressing that this is “not a wholesale rotation away from public markets.”
- Hedge funds have attracted the strongest recent interest among qualified Citi Wealth clients seeking returns less dependent on the direction of equity markets, said Olaolu Aganga, the firm’s head of portfolio construction and analytics. Private credit is also drawing interest for contractual income, Woods said. Citi’s 2026 survey of 351 family offices found inflation was their biggest concern, followed by interest rates, financial-system stability and market volatility, but public equities still recorded the strongest net increase in allocations.
- Infrastructure is another beneficiary. Net inflows into open-ended infrastructure funds rose 30% year on year in the 12 months through the first quarter of 2026, according to PitchBook data cited by UBS, as investors target data centers, electricity networks and digital connectivity tied to the AI boom, electrification and energy security. Family offices are also becoming more selective in private equity, favoring direct deals, co-investments and secondary fund stakes over traditional pooled funds, Aganga said.
What Happened?
Watkins described “huge appetite for alternative exposure” in the high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth category, and Woods said much of the new investment is being funded by fresh capital and excess cash rather than large-scale sales of stocks and bonds. Evergreen and semi-liquid funds have lowered minimums and some administrative hurdles, but Watkins cautioned that “improved access does not equal liquidity.” Even funds marketed as semi-liquid can restrict withdrawals when redemptions surge. Aganga warned that performance varies widely by manager and that private assets may appear less volatile than they are because valuations are updated less often.
Why It Matters?
The 60% alternatives share is a structural change in how the world’s richest investors are building portfolios, but it is not a simple abandonment of public markets. Citi’s finding that public equities still saw the strongest net allocation increase, and Woods’s comment that new money is coming from cash rather than stock sales, suggests family offices are adding private exposure on top of public holdings. The risk, as UBS’s Thomas Roland Guyot noted, is unintended concentration: a portfolio that holds data centers through real estate, infrastructure and private-equity funds can look diversified while remaining heavily exposed to the same AI investment cycle — a warning that lands as Nvidia’s leadership crisis tests that cycle in public markets.
What’s Next?
The trend will be tested if public-market volatility around AI and rates persists, or if semi-liquid funds face a wave of redemptions. Investors will watch whether the 40% jump in JPMorgan’s Asia private-wealth alternatives continues, whether infrastructure inflows hold after a 30% rise, and whether family offices keep adding public equities alongside private assets. Inflation remaining the top concern in Citi’s survey means income-producing private credit and contracted infrastructure cash flows are likely to stay in demand as long as the rate outlook stays uncertain.
Affected Tickers and Coins: JPM, C, BK, UBS
Source: CNBC
