A Crisil Coalition Greenwich survey of more than 560 U.S. institutional investors, conducted over the first three quarters of 2024, showed respondents’ private markets allocations continuing to rise at the expense of public equities as well as a diminished focus on ESG and DEI considerations.
Some of the survey’s conclusions, arrived at on the basis of in-depth interviews conducted through September 2024, could yet be influenced by the heightened volatility ushered in on Jan. 20 with the start of President Donald Trump’s second administration.
For example, the survey report, released March 25, showed investors predicting particularly steep cuts to their global and emerging markets equity allocations over the coming three years, even as those segments, after a decade or more in the shadow of U.S. equities, posted relatively strong growth over the first quarter of 2025.
It’s unclear how sustainable that rebound will prove. Meanwhile, wide-ranging policy moves by the new administration, including an aggressive deployment of tariffs and a reordering of geopolitical relations, is clouding the broader investment outlook, with the potential to impact survey findings, such as the drop in the percentage of respondents pegging volatility as a key challenge for investors to 40% from 46% in 2023 and 47% in 2022.
For institutional investors, “there have been a series of changes and they’re trying to understand how their portfolios are aligned with those changes,” said Mark Buckley, global head of investment management at Crisil Coalition Greenwich, in an interview.
“So, a lot to take in right now,” Buckley said, adding that his team is in the field right now speaking with investors.
The just-completed survey showed a net 13% of respondents looking to significantly increase their allocations to private equity, led by endowments and foundations, with a net 23%, and public funds, with a net 18%.
For the survey’s 213 corporate pension funds, with an average funding level of 102% and a growing focus on liability-driven investing, only a net 5% predicted a significant boost in private equity allocations over the coming three years.
Private infrastructure equity and private debt were the next biggest magnets for alternatives allocations, with a net 9% of respondents each predicting they will significantly increase their exposures to those asset segments over the coming three years.
For private infrastructure equity, that net 9% reflected net tallies of 29% of endowments and foundations, and 14% of public pension funds offsetting a 7% of corporate funds predicting a significant decrease.
The survey showed respondents expecting to decrease their allocations to public equities over the next three years pretty much across the board, with global and emerging market equities looking at the sharpest declines.
Only a net 1% of respondents reported looking to significantly decrease their allocations to active U.S. equities. The corresponding figures for global and emerging markets equities were a net 7% and 9% of respondents, respectively.
The survey showed environmental, social and governance and diversity, equity and inclusion-focused investing faced further headwinds over the past year. The percentage of respondents saying they consider ESG in investment or manager selection decisions dropped to 38% for 2024, from 47% the year before.
