Brokerages Own Distribution for Alts
Ben Haber, CEO of Monark, on why 2026 is the year of alts
The key shift is that private market access is moving from standalone alt apps into the brokerage and advisor apps where investors already keep cash and check portfolios. That matters because distribution is the hardest part of alts. Existing brokerages already have funded accounts, daily traffic, and trust, so adding a private fund or pre-IPO deal becomes a new menu item inside an account the investor already uses, instead of asking them to join and fund a separate platform.
-
Monark is built around this workflow. A partner integrates Monark into its existing app, lets an investor use cash already sitting in their brokerage account, and handles subscriptions, money movement, reporting, and in some cases custody through the clearing firm. That removes the extra account opening step that usually kills retail conversion.
-
The economics are strong for the distributor. In Monark's model, private deals often carry a one time upfront fee, with brokerages sharing in that commission. That gives brokers a much richer revenue stream than zero commission stock trading and helps explain why platforms want alts on the same screen as stocks, options, and IRAs.
-
Incumbents are now validating the same thesis at scale. Schwab completed its Forge acquisition on March 2, 2026, after saying Forge would give it a distribution platform across millions of accounts. Morgan Stanley closed its EquityZen acquisition on January 27, 2026, framing it as a way to connect private share supply and investor demand through its wealth channels.
The next step is that alts stop being a niche product and become a standard account feature, first through brand name pre-IPO names that pull users in, then through evergreen private equity and private credit funds that are easier to keep continuously available. The winners will be the infrastructure firms that let incumbent distributors launch this inside their existing user experience with minimal operational friction.