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New Nasdaq Global Indexes survey finds private markets the top-ranked area of client demand across every region
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Among asset managers, 80% now use AI in the product development process, but only 26% actively use it across multiple stages
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NEW YORK, Sept. 10, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Nasdaq, Inc. (Nasdaq: NDAQ) today released the 2026 Global Voice of the Issuer Study, which finds that asset managers have converged on private markets as their top area of client demand and now use AI routinely in product development, but face increasing difficulty bringing new products to meaningful scale.
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The study, conducted in partnership with Escalent, gathered insights on product development, differentiation, distribution, technology, and index provider partnerships from 406 senior investment product professionals (356 asset managers and 50 insurance firms) at firms with $25 billion or more in assets under management across seven countries.
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While private markets ranked first in client demand across every region surveyed and AI adoption reached 80%, the research suggests the industry’s biggest challenge is no longer identifying growth opportunities, but turning them into products that succeed at scale. Seventy-one percent of asset managers say it is increasingly difficult to break through in a crowded market, while 66% say many new product innovations struggle to accumulate meaningful assets.
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“Asset managers have identified where they want to grow. The harder question is what it takes to get there,” said Emily Spurling, Global Head of Indexes at Nasdaq. “As firms move quickly to satisfy demand for a range of exposures, including private markets and AI, what they need from index providers has changed – a partner in the room at the design stage, one that moves at their speed and can help them scale strategically. That is where the next phase of growth gets built.”
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Private Markets Lead Client Demand Globally
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Across both institutional and advisor channels, private markets rank first among the product areas asset managers say their clients are asking for most. Among institutional-focused firms, 82% of Americas respondents place private markets in their top five client demand areas, alongside 71% in APAC (Japan and South Korea) and 67% in Europe (the U.K., Germany, France, and Italy).
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As the category grows, firms point to the data and benchmark standards behind it as the areas with the most room to develop. Among surveyed respondents, 58% identified private-market benchmarks as the largest unmet need presented in the survey, followed by digital asset benchmarks (41%). Asset managers active in private markets identify access to differentiated data (27%) and a clear investment narrative (27%) as the two factors most critical to stand out.
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AI Adoption Is Broad, but Implementation Remains Shallow
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Artificial intelligence has become a standard part of product development, though its use remains uneven. Eighty percent of asset managers globally report using AI in some capacity, rising to 84% in APAC, but only 26% actively deploy it across multiple parts of the process, with most limiting it to idea generation (69%) and product design (61%).