Infrastructure and emerging markets top global asset owner wish lists

Infrastructure and emerging market equities are emerging as the leading allocation priorities for the world's largest institutional investors, with the majority planning to increase exposure to both asset classes over the next 12 months, according to the newly released Marsh 2026 Global Asset Owner Barometer.

The study, which gathered views from 430 global asset owners managing a combined US$5.76 trillion in assets, found that more than half (approximately 50.7%) intend to increase infrastructure allocations, while 46.9% plan to boost emerging market equity exposure. The findings point to a broad repositioning of risk across institutional portfolios as investors navigate inflation, geopolitical disruption, and a narrowing opportunity set in developed public markets.

"Capital is on the move in pursuit of true diversification, inflation protection, and flexibility," said Niall O'Sullivan, Global Chief Investment Officer, Investments and Retirement, Marsh. "Investors need more than good ideas - they need integrated advice and solutions that translate strategy into action, across markets, risk, liquidity, and long-term return goals."

Infrastructure leads the allocation charge

Infrastructure posted the strongest net increase of any asset class in the Marsh survey, with net allocation intentions rising to +42.3%. The asset class has held the top position across Marsh's 2023, 2025, and now 2026 studies - a multi-year pattern that suggests something more durable than a cyclical trade.

Infrastructure offers long-duration income, exposure to the energy transition and digital development, and a degree of inflation linkage that becomes more valuable when monetary policy remains unsettled. One chief investment officer at a health foundation surveyed by Marsh described doubling their infrastructure exposure in anticipation of the AI data center build-out, noting that the US was "materially underinvested in infrastructure projects, specifically energy."

For financial advisors weighing how to bring infrastructure into client portfolios, private infrastructure is gaining ground as advisors rethink allocations in precisely the same direction as their institutional counterparts - with power, data centers, and grids drawing the most interest.

Inflation-linked assets recorded the second-largest net swing, at +35.2%, up 24.4 percentage points from 2025. Cash also saw a sharp reversal, moving from net negative territory to a +22.0% net allocation intention - a 35.5 percentage-point swing that signals a desire for optionality as much as safety.

Emerging markets break out

The sharp acceleration in emerging market equity intentions - net intentions climbed 30.8 percentage points year-over-year, reaching +33.5% - reflects both a reassessment of relative value and a deliberate effort to reduce concentration risk in developed markets.

US equity net intentions fell to -10.3%, while UK equity intentions dropped to -16.5%. Marsh's report notes that headline US index exposure has increasingly become synonymous with technology sector concentration, prompting asset owners to actively reconsider their geographic mix.

That shift mirrors what advisors are seeing at the client level. Emerging markets are winning over advisors as EM stocks have outperformed US and Western European shares significantly in 2026 — the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF was up more than 37% in the 12 months to February 2026, compared to 12% for the S&P 500 over the same period.

Garvan McCarthy, Global Alternatives Chief Investment Officer, Investments and Retirement at Marsh, described the broader private markets environment in terms that apply equally to the emerging market opportunity: "The next phase will reward asset owners able to pace commitments, maintain underwriting discipline, and understand how each exposure affects portfolio liquidity and aggregate risk."

Geopolitical risk drives the near-term agenda

The allocation shifts described in the Marsh report do not occur in isolation. Three-quarters (75.1%) of asset owners surveyed cite geopolitical risk as a significant influence on portfolio decision-making over the next 12 months, placing it ahead of inflation at 72.8% and AI or technology disruption at 72.6%.

Asset owners are translating those concerns into portfolio action, reducing US and UK equity exposure, adjusting geographic positioning, and building both inflation hedges and liquidity buffers simultaneously. Nearly half (48.4%) adjusted geographic exposure in the 12 months prior to the survey, while more than a third reduced overall portfolio risk (37.2%) and increased cash or liquidity holdings (36.7%).

Deborah Wardle, International Chief Investment Officer, Investments and Retirement at Marsh, summarized the challenge: "Staying resilient will mean managing the risks already showing up in portfolios, while also rethinking some of the assumptions that may no longer hold in a more disrupted market."

Private markets: still expanding, but more deliberately

Private market exposure is now near-universal among the survey's respondents - 96.3% of portfolios include some form of private market allocation, up from 80.0% in 2025. But the nature of that exposure is changing. Nearly half (44.0%) of asset owners describe their current approach as "greater selectivity" rather than expanding pace or scope.

Valuations remain the primary constraint on deployment, cited by 46.6% of respondents. More than a quarter (27.4%) slowed, delayed, or reduced private market commitments over the past 12 months.