Hey WealthTech’ers 👋

📰 PloutosX WealthTech Stories – November 10th, 2025 is live. Your Monday reset to recap the key developments shaping WealthTech last week.

Private markets, alternative allocations, advisor models, and investment culture continue to evolve, with shifts that speak to how wealth will be built and managed in the decade ahead. From capital flows and platform consolidation to the role of AI inside advisory organisations, the landscape is changing quickly.

Last week: New research suggests wealthy investors could drive a $32 trillion shift into alternative assets, Charles Schwab entered private markets at scale by acquiring Forge Global, Santander advanced private credit into trade finance, industry leaders reframed AI as a collaborative colleague inside wealth organisations, and a new hedge fund dedicated to Hermès bags highlighted the rise of scarcity-based asset classes.

Whether you are building, advising, allocating, or investing in this space, grab your coffee, scroll on, and start your week informed and ahead. ☕

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Delving into the leading 5 wealthtech stories of the week:

🗞️ Story 1: Wealthy investors expected to drive a $32T alternatives boom 💰📈

🗞️ Story 2: Schwab enters private markets by acquiring Forge Global 🤝📊

🗞️ Story 3: Santander leads push to expand private credit into trade finance 🌍💼

🗞️ Story 4: AI becomes a “colleague,” not a replacement, in WealthTech workflows 🤖🧭

🗞️ Story 5: A hedge fund dedicated to Hermès bags gains investor attention 👜📦

🗞 Story #1

A new analysis shows that global wealth holders are set to channel up to $32 trillion into alternative investments over the coming years. High-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth investors are increasingly shifting allocations away from public equities and fixed income toward private equity, private credit, real assets, and collectibles. The trend is driven by return dispersion, diversification benefits, volatility hedging, and a belief that private markets provide better long-term value than public markets. Wealth managers and platforms are racing to build infrastructure, advisory models, and product access that can support this shift at scale.

💡 Why It Matters: This is a structural reallocation, not a cycle. As private markets capture a larger share of global invested wealth, the industry will need better access platforms, standardised reporting, advisor training, and new risk frameworks. Wealth managers who fail to offer alternatives will lose relevance among high-value clients, while technology-driven platforms providing education, fractional access, and simplified onboarding are positioned to lead. For asset managers and allocators, the competitive landscape will reward firms that balance private market returns with transparency, liquidity options, and responsible fee models. The next decade of wealth growth will be alternatives-led.

📰 Read full story here

🗞 Story #2

Charles Schwab has agreed to acquire Forge Global, the private company trading and liquidity platform, at a significant premium. The deal marks Schwab’s major move into private markets, giving its advisor network and affluent investors a direct channel to pre-IPO and late-stage venture shares. Forge brings a marketplace, custody infrastructure, secondary trading flow, and private company data. Schwab plans to integrate these capabilities into its wealth platform to expand access to private deal flow and grow wallet share among mass affluent and high-net-worth clients who are increasingly seeking private market exposure.

💡 Why It Matters: This acquisition accelerates the mainstreaming of private markets inside traditional wealth management. For decades, access to private company shares was fragmented, relationship-based, and institutionally gated. Schwab’s scale, distribution, and brand legitimacy could normalize secondary trading of private shares for a far wider audience. It also pressures competitors, especially wirehouses and RIA custody platforms, to respond with private market access strategies of their own. The move signals that private markets are becoming a required offering to retain high-value advisory relationships.

📰 Read full story here

🗞 Story #3

Santander has emerged as one of the first major global banks to integrate private credit funding into trade finance structures. The bank is partnering with asset managers to direct private credit capital toward trade flows, supply chain liquidity, and working capital financing. Demand for these solutions has increased as traditional bank lending remains constrained by regulatory capital requirements and weaker credit conditions. Santander’s model blends bank-originated deal flow with institutional capital pools, offering new ways to fund global commerce while diversifying risk balance sheets.

💡 Why It Matters: This development marks a significant evolution in how global trade is financed. Blending private credit with bank-led origination channels opens a scalable funding mechanism for supply chains, especially in emerging markets where dollar liquidity is tight. It also signals that private credit’s next stage of growth will occur outside traditional corporate loans and buyout financing. For wealth channels, trade finance exposure could become a new category of yield strategy, offering short duration and asset-backed risk. This could broaden alternatives beyond private equity and private credit as investors seek diversification and stability in complex markets.

📰 Read full story here

Story #4

A new report argues that AI is reshaping wealth management workflows by augmenting human roles rather than replacing them. Wealth managers are incorporating AI copilots into research, portfolio modeling, compliance, client communication, and personalized planning. Instead of removing advisors, firms are reorganizing teams to pair human judgment with AI-driven insights. The shift emphasizes advisory empathy, regulation-aware decisioning, and enhanced productivity. Industry leaders are now designing org charts that treat AI as a functional teammate.

💡 Why It Matters: The narrative in wealth is moving away from “AI vs humans” toward “AI + humans.” As advisory models become more complex, clients still seek trust, guidance, and emotional reassurance. AI can scale analysis, but human advisors provide context and meaning. Firms that combine both effectively will deliver more personalization at lower cost, increasing accessibility of wealth planning to underserved segments. This will influence hiring, training, compensation, and service models across the industry. The winners will be firms that rethink workflows, not just adopt tools.

📰 Read full story here

🗞 Story #5

A new hedge fund, Luxus, has launched that invests exclusively in Hermès Birkin and Kelly handbags, treating luxury accessories as collectible alternative assets. The fund sources, authenticates, insures, stores, and resells handbags, aiming to generate returns from scarcity-driven appreciation. Prices for certain Hermès bags have historically outperformed equities and gold over multi-year periods due to limited supply and consistent global demand. The fund targets wealthy investors seeking non-correlated assets and cultural-value stores.

💡 Why It Matters: This fund illustrates how alternative investments are expanding into cultural and scarce goods categories. While this fund is niche, it reflects the broader trend of high-net-worth investors seeking differentiated forms of value preservation, identity signaling, and portfolio diversification. However, these assets are illiquid, opaque in pricing, and require specialized expertise. For advisors and platforms, the rise of collectibles as investable asset classes raises questions about suitability frameworks, risk disclosure, and valuation methodology. Cultural assets are entering the wealth allocation conversation.

📰 Read full story here

And that's a wrap WealthTech’ers, till next week. 🎬👋

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Disclaimers:

(1) The opinions shared here are my own and do not represent the views of any organisation I am associated with.

(2) This newsletter is for educational purposes only and should not be interpreted as investment or financial advice.

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