UBS raises concerns over Record plc’s aggressive push into private markets

When UBS and Record plc joined forces in 2021, the partnership looked like a natural fit: a global wealth management powerhouse lending its distribution muscle to a UK-listed currency management specialist branching into sustainable emerging market finance. That relationship has since cooled considerably, with UBS growing increasingly vocal about the risks lurking inside private market investments, precisely the area where Record has been placing its biggest bets.

The numbers behind the friction

Record plc’s fiscal year 2026 results, released in June, tell a story of growth and strain running in parallel. Assets under management climbed to $114.6 billion, a 14% year-over-year increase. But revenue moved in the opposite direction, falling 4% to £40.1 million as the company shifted the composition of its mandates.

The Record Emerging Market Sustainable Finance fund, the product that originally brought UBS and Record together, started with roughly $750 million in assets and eventually grew beyond $1 billion. But UBS’s institutional clients have grown warier about the broader private credit landscape, and that wariness appears to have bled into the relationship.

UBS has cautioned that private credit defaults could reach as high as 15% in adverse market scenarios. That kind of warning from one of the world’s largest wealth managers carries weight, especially when the firm issuing it was previously helping market your products to its client base.

Record’s private market ambitions

Record plc built its reputation on currency management, a relatively niche but steady corner of institutional finance. The Record Infrastructure Equity fund is targeting capital commitments of up to €1.5 billion. Record’s management has projected that new mandates will generate an additional £4 million in revenue in fiscal year 2027.

Why UBS is pumping the brakes

UBS has been advising wealth management clients more broadly to reassess their private market allocations in light of shifting economic conditions. UBS appears to be answering questions about private credit underwriting standards with caution, and firms like Record that depend on sustainable investment flows from wealth management channels are feeling the consequences.

What this means for investors watching Record

Record’s 14% AUM growth suggests the firm is not struggling for investor interest. But the 4% revenue decline indicates that the economics of its new business lines have not yet caught up with the asset growth. If the projected £4 million in new mandate revenue for fiscal year 2027 comes through, it would signal that Record’s pivot is gaining traction despite UBS’s reservations.

UBS remains listed as a manager despite the reported sourness in the relationship, a detail that suggests neither side is ready for a clean break.

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