European Wealth Firms Build Private Markets Capability Faster Than They Communicate It, Peregrine Report Finds

• Capability outpaces communication: 73% of the 30 firms show visible private markets engagement, yet only 40% have a dedicated landing page explaining it to clients
• Swiss private banks set the benchmark: 70% maintain dedicated private markets destinations, led by Julius Baer, UBP, Pictet and Lombard Odier
• Visibility is concentrated: five firms generate half of all wealth management media coverage, and alternatives just 7%

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Europe's leading wealth managers have built genuine private markets capability but most have yet to explain it to the clients they built it for, according to The Wealth 30, a new report from Peregrine Communications. The study analyses how 30 leading UK and European wealth managers and private banks position private markets. It concludes that communication, not product, is now the biggest barrier to differentiation in the wealth channel.

Capability outpaces explanation

73% of the Wealth 30 engage in private markets yet only 40% operate a dedicated landing page explaining what private markets are, why they matter and how clients can access them. Just 23% combine explainers, a destination and repeatable house-view content.

Swiss private banks set the benchmark, supported by house views, outlooks and heritage narratives. Pictet, UBP, Lombard Odier and Julius Baer all back their positioning with repeatable insight content, and Coutts is the clearest UK example. UK firms more often communicate private markets through portfolio architecture: embedded and document-led.

The obvious differentiators go unused

Across 57 positioning claims from the 19 firms with articulated propositions, 79% anchor on "access", 68% on "diversification" and the same proportion on "global" capability.

Four archetypes of private markets communication

Mapping owned-channel maturity against media presence produces four archetypes: Destination-led, Materials-led, Education-led and Low-visibility, each with a distinct media footprint.

Anthony Payne, Managing Partner at Peregrine, said: "We watched this happen in asset management. A handful of firms made their thinking easy to find and took most of the coverage and the flows. Wealth management is at exactly that point now. In three years the gap will be a moat, and it won't be capability that decides which side of it a firm sits on."

Marina Fraser Harris, Partner at Peregrine, added: "Most firms in this study offer access, diversification and global reach, so none can differentiate on it. The next phase of competition will be about which firms explain private markets most clearly and address liquidity and governance head-on. As AI becomes the first port of call for investor research, expertise that can't be found simply doesn't count."

The Wealth 30 is available to download from Peregrine Communications here.