With clients increasingly turning to alternative investments for consistent returns over liquidity amid volatile markets, Standard Chartered’s Mischa Bitton highlights the key alternative asset classes resonating with wealth clients in 2025.

“Since the beginning of this year, private credit has emerged as the most sought-after strategy, representing more than half of the total alternative investment net AUM (assets under management) growth,” said Bitton, head of alternative investments, wealth solutions, at Standard Chartered and a member of APB‘s Alternative Investments Council.

The surge, he said, is largely attributed to investors who moved away from public fixed income, which has underperformed over the past five years. In a similar vein, leading alternative asset manager Apollo Global Management also recently told APB that private credit is seeing strong demand given its downside-protected nature.

Clients are also interested in hedge funds, which Bitton said continued to surprise the market with remarkable growth in 2025. He attributed this to their relatively consistent performance and appeal amid rising market uncertainties, making them an attractive option for investors seeking stability.

Finally, Bitton said private equity continues to grow steadily in net AUM, aligned with the overall expansion of alternative investments. Meanwhile, the UK lender has also observed similar trends in infrastructure private assets, despite a decline in core real estate AUM.

Diversification, risk management and strategic allocation

In light of the current macroeconomic and market environment, Standard Chartered is urging clients to stay invested with a focus on diversification, risk management, and strategic allocation.

“We are recommending our clients to diversify their investments across various private market asset classes, including private equity, private credit, infrastructure, and real estate. For investors focused on downside risk, larger allocations to private credit and hedge funds can make sense.”

The bank is also encouraging clients to adopt a long-term perspective when investing in private markets, as private market investments often require longer holding periods to realise their full potential, and a long-term view can help clients weather short-term market volatility.

Open-ended vs closed-ended?

Private banks in the region, including Standard Chartered, have increasingly adopted an open-ended structure for private market strategies since their introduction several years ago. While there are differing opinions on the merits of open-ended versus closed-ended structures, Bitton believes both have unique advantages and challenges.

Closed-ended strategies allow investors to maintain pure exposure to private assets and maximise internal rate of return (IRR) potential, whereas open-ended structures provide immediate, fully invested, and well-diversified exposure to private markets, he noted.

The bank believes it offers one of the more comprehensive solutions to help clients establish robust allocations to private markets. “While our primary focus is on open-ended structures, the bank also provides access to high-conviction closed-ended structures from time to time. By offering a balanced approach, we aim to cater to the diverse needs and preferences of our clients,” Bitton said.

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What’s cooking at Standard Chartered? 

As private banks in the region continue to strengthen alternative investment capabilities, Standard Chartered has introduced several new strategies this year to further enhance its suite of offerings for its affluent to ultra high net worth clients.

One example was the launch of its European private credit strategy in February this year. Bitton said European private credit offers a substantial yield premium over US private credit and often comes with stronger covenants.

He added that the difference is not necessarily due to higher credit risk in Europe, but rather the result of a majority of capital flowing towards the US. Consequently, Bitton said, Europe presents a more attractive demand-supply dynamic for lenders.

Additionally, the UK bank rolled out a new private market strategy two months ago, providing access to investments in sports, media, and entertainment sectors that have historically offered limited opportunities for individual investors to participate in sports team ownership and the broader sports industry.

“As team valuations continue to rise, fewer individuals possess the wealth required to purchase a team, making accessibility increasingly elusive and reserved for a select group of ultra high net worth individuals. Today, the momentum around sports investing continues to grow, and private capital is becoming an increasingly crucial part of the sports ecosystem,” he said. Notably, Standard Chartered is the main shirt sponsor for the UK Premier League 2024-2025 champions Liverpool.

“These new strategies not only add to the diversity of our product suite but also offer our clients unique opportunities to capitalise on emerging market trends and dynamics,” Bitton said.