Brokers, Asset Managers & Exchanges: 2026 MS Financials Conference Recap: Day 1

Research evidence excerpt

Brokers, Asset Managers & Exchanges: 2026 MS Financials Conference Recap: Day 1

FoundationM

Executive Summary

What’s New? We kicked off Day 1 of our 17th annual Morgan Stanley Financials

Conference with 8 companies presenting across the capital markets space, including 4

alternative asset managers, a traditional asset manager, and 3 mkt structure/exchanges;

this included: BX, STEP, TPG, GCMG (not covered), VCTR, NDAQ, MIAX, and MKTX.

What’s Next? The conference continues tomorrow with a mix of alternative asset

managers, traditional asset managers, brokers, and market infrastructure providers

speaking: APO, ARES, BN, CG, KKR, RPC (formerly PX), IVZ, BULL (not covered), WLTH

(not covered), Trumid (private).

Key themes from Day 1 of the Financials Conference:

• Macro Backdrop - Management teams generally described the macro environment

as resilient despite ongoing geopolitical, tariff, and liquidity concerns. Alternative

managers noted improving capital markets conditions, a reopening IPO market, and

expectations for stronger realizations and fundraising activity into 2H26, while

exchanges continue to benefit from elevated volatility and trading activity.

• Deployment - Deployment remains active across the alternatives space, with firms

emphasizing disciplined capital allocation rather than a rush to invest. Blackstone

and TPG highlighted strong deployment pipelines, particularly in AI infrastructure,

private credit, secondaries, and customized transactions, while StepStone noted its

significant undeployed capital provides earnings visibility without compromising

underwriting standards.

• Private Wealth - Private wealth remains one of the largest secular growth

opportunities across alternative asset managers. Firms continue to see strong