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Union Bancaire Privée Challenges Fears Of Shrunken Stock Markets

Tom Burroughes

25 September 2025

Amidst all the rise of private market investing, it is often said that because the number of listed firms has shrunk in some places, policymakers must widen private market access to the mass investor. Otherwise, so the argument goes, popular capitalism will suffer. 

It might be a necessary corrective to this narrative, however, to note that, as of April this year, figures from Investopedia showed that there are about 53,795 listed companies worldwide. (Some sources appear to have up to 58,000 companies, depending on sources and timing.) The Nasdaq market has more than 3,500 companies; the New York Stock Exchange has over 2,000; the Shanghai Stock Exchange has more than 2,100 companies; and the Tokyo Stock Exchange has more than 3,900 firms. There are more than 1,300 on the London Stock Exchange.

And while some markets have seen an exodus of listed firms – the UK has seen a steady fall from more than 2,400 in 2015 – it is a mistake to assume that investors seeking listed opportunities face a significant global challenge, a private bank argues.

“There are still very many listed companies,” Nicolas Roth, head of the private markets advisory team at , told this publication in a recent call.

Roth argues that while private market investing has its virtues, basing the case on this area on the notion of a dying listed market is probably misleading. 

There has been a torrent of commentary about the virtues of private market investing. Governments have noticed. The US government, for example, has given those with 401(k) retirement plans freedom to hold such assets. In the UK, the Long Term Asset Fund is designed to give access to this area, as is the EU’s ELTIF structure. A word that is sometimes thrown around in terms of access is “democratisation” – hitherto, areas such as private equity were largely confined to ultra-HNW individuals and large pension plans.

Roth, while he says such assets have their place in certain portfolios, said part of the driver of all this private market noise is marketing and a crowd-like fashion. Also, private market general partners need to expand their investor base because traditional buyers have slowed down reinvestments.

“One of the reasons why private equity players and managers in the US are designing products for the retail market is because the existing into a Mom and Pop account, that’s where you have a problem,” Roth said.

Cautious 
In the traditional Swiss private banking area, Roth said, account holders are generally “conservative,” holding cash, stocks, some commodities, hedge funds and structured products. Nevertheless, private markets are gaining market share. 

Roth was asked what he thought of a trend of large private market firms such as BlackStone offering “evergreen”, or perpetual structures for such assets, with no set exit points and capital calls. Roth said these funds are useful for private clients as an introduction to the asset class. “They allow private clients to dip their toes into the water for the first time and experience how they perform,” he said. He also noted that funds offered by tier one managers are running decent liquidity sleeves and have the right mechanisms in place to protect investors. 

“Evergreens are good entry points for the wealth management business, although more sophisticated clients may require access to closed-end structures or direct deals,” he said.