The forces shaping today’s private markets are numerous and cross-cutting. Among them, managers are grappling with external pressure from macro-economic surprises, fundraising headwinds, tightened liquidity, rising investor scrutiny and the globalization and democratization of the asset class.
Internally, the pursuit of new fund strategies and structures, engagement with a wider and more diverse pool of investors, some entirely new to private markets, retooled recruitment strategies and the cautious adoption of artificial intelligence are among the trends redefining not only a private fund CFO’s day job, but back-office workflows, functions and roles. It’s a complex picture that calls on today’s CFO to be both strategic-minded and also focused on the detail.
Our Private Funds CFO Insights Survey 2026, conducted in partnership with Aztec Group, flags the key issues preoccupying today’s private fund CFOs. Here are seven charts that demonstrate the breadth of topics competing for their attention.
Capturing private wealth and retail capital
How to channel the emerging demand from private wealth and retail capital to access private markets is a question on the lips of managers across asset types. Almost a third of survey respondents have defined a strategy to attract private wealth capital, with a further 28 percent planning to. Frequently cited obstacles that may be deterring the remaining 40 percent include the operational and governance infrastructure required to meet the reporting and liquidity needs of individual investors more used to the speed and transparency of public markets.
Strengthening bonds with LPs
Fundraising remains challenging. Almost half of survey respondents reported they had extended their fundraising period, and an increasing number have explored launching a continuation vehicle as they seek new routes to liquidity. However, managers suggest that LPs are growing more optimistic as they get clarity on their liquidity positions and are more willing to engage with GPs collecting capital. The extension in fundraising periods reflects LPs’ desire to establish solid relationships and the time it takes to assess increasing volumes of information available to them, managers say.
Going evergreen
GPs are considering a variety of channels to capture growing interest from private wealth and retail investors, despite institutional investor concerns about their entry into private markets, notably the potential impact on the LP-GP relationship, how deals will be distributed between different vehicles and how management fees and incentives will be calculated for different structures. More than a third of survey respondents indicate they are taking steps to reach these new investors by already raising, or planning or considering the launch of an evergreen vehicle.
More varied fund finance options
Managers seeking liquidity and those simply wanting to diversify their sources of capital are benefiting from an increasingly varied range of fund financing options. While capital call facilities remain the most popular type of borrowing at the fund level, in terms of institutions, notably, CFOs increasingly expect to turn to private debt funds. Survey respondents also foresee increased borrowing from institutional investors over the next six months. In the longer term, macroeconomic volatility, policy and regulatory change may amend that outlook, but managers will still have choices.
Recruiting for the future
While a tough fundraising environment poses the most significant challenge by far to plans to scale up a firm, GPs remain optimistic in the face of macroeconomic volatility and portfolio management and performance issues. A majority anticipate growth over the next 24 months. Among recruitment drivers at managers benefitting from a flight to scale are the need for staff to service a rising number of LPs and to support the diversification of strategies.
AI adoption seen as inevitable
As a new technology evolving at pace, the use cases for AI tools and the return on investment are unclear to many private fund CFOs. It should come as no surprise then that not one of the survey respondents feels like they are leading with AI innovation. However, most managers have made a start on their journey toward AI adoption, either by exploring or researching it, or piloting use cases. While some CFOs remain wary, most seem to agree that managers need to actively implement AI to support back-office functions or be left behind.
LP scrutiny is a fact of life
As CFOs become more accustomed to LP requests for increasingly granular information across the lifespan of a fund, during fundraising due diligence they are receiving highly detailed questions from investors about a number of back-office functions, led by cybersecurity, valuations and compliance. The volume of requests is also rising for managers raising larger funds or launching new strategies. To manage this influx, CFOs are seeking to reduce the level of manual involvement by standardizing data sets and automating responses to common LP requests.
