Governance-by-Design For Private Markets: From Funds To Platforms

This article was first published in Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law (June 2026). It is the first in a two-part series examining how governance architectures must evolve as private markets transition from funds to investment platforms.

Key Points

• For the largest private markets managers, platformisation is already the operating reality – even though governance and operating models still vary materially across the industry.
• Platformisation has matured faster than the governance architecture around it. The result is a governance paradox: platforms exercise management authority across legally separate vehicles whose fiduciary obligations they shape at manager level but which authority remains contractually constituted at vehicle level.