BlackRock CEO Fink, SEC Commissioner Uyeda Tout Private Assets in DC Plans

Federal regulators and some asset managers indisputably hope to see private markets play a wider role as investment options in defined contribution plans.

Their argument is simple: Companies wait longer to go public, so much growth sits in private markets, most of which are currently inaccessible to retirement plan investors. As such, regulators and asset managers are framing access to alternatives not as a luxury, but as a necessity.

In a speech last week, SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda said private markets have long been “the seedbed where ideas become businesses,” yet access has largely been confined to institutions, leaving everyday retirement investors “effectively excluded.”

That divide, he suggested, is becoming untenable. Private assets—including private equity, credit and infrastructure—“can enhance overall performance returns and reduce volatility when included as part of a diversified portfolio,” Uyeda said.

Though Uyeda, a Republican, has repeatedly advocated for greater DC access to private markets, his comments have increasingly signaled his stance: that the asset class is a necessity for DC plans.

That message echoes across Wall Street. In his annual letter to investors, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink warned that “a growing share of economic value is being created in the capital markets,” but that “growth is reaching too few people.” Expanding private market access through retirement systems, he wrote, could “help more people share in economic growth and build long-term financial security.”

The crux of the debate is this: Policymakers and asset managers increasingly see private markets as essential to retirement investing, but the operational and fiduciary realities of the 401(k) system remain a significant constraint.

Expanding Access, Preserving Protection

Uyeda framed the issue as a balance between access and oversight. The role of regulators, he said, is not to decide which investments are appropriate, but to ensure investors have “accurate, honest and financially material information” to make those decisions themselves.

At the same time, he acknowledged litigation risk as a key barrier. Regulators are working to provide “regulatory clarity and safe harbors” so fiduciaries can include private assets in defined contribution plans without fear of hindsight-driven lawsuits.

President Donald Trump’s August 2025 executive order insisted regulators address these fears by providing a regulatory framework to clarify how the assets may be added into professionally managed multi-asset funds. The Department of Labor’s proposed rule on the topic has been pending review by the Office of Management and Budget since January. The DOL did not offer comments or specifics about the timeline of the rule.

Fink, meanwhile, has made no secret of his firm’s belief that alternative investments will benefit DC plans and outlined Blackrock’s ambitious aims to increase the private market exposure of multiple kinds of clients.

“In private markets, we’re executing on an ambitious fundraising plan to raise a cumulative $400 billion by 2030,” he wrote. “We have scaled platforms across two of the fastest-growing sectors in private markets—infrastructure and private credit. And we’re executing on a growing opportunity to bring the benefits of private markets investments to more investors, including insurance and wealth clients, and individuals saving for retirement.”

The View From the Field

Practitioners say the reality is more complicated, even though many industry professionals are in favor of, or neutral on, the asset class in DC plans.

“The infrastructure that exists currently would have a hard time accommodating any of these changes,” says Jared Porter, chief operating officer of 401(k) fintech provider 401Go.

The core issue, sources say, is structural. Defined contribution plans are built around daily pricing, high liquidity and standardized disclosures—features that do not align neatly with private assets.

“These assets—they don’t price daily,” Porter says, “and the 401(k) system is built around daily NAV.”

Liquidity is another sticking point. Participants expect to move money freely, whether rebalancing investments or taking withdrawals. Though some proponents of alternatives in DC plans insist the liquidity concerns are overstated, Porter says recordkeepers still need the operational functionality to accommodate plan participants’ actions.

Even basic functions, such as trading between funds, can become difficult when underlying assets cannot be quickly valued or sold.

“What does that trading look like, and can it be accommodated?” Porter asks.

Advisers are grappling with similar concerns. Sean Kelly, a financial adviser at Heffernan Financial Services, says his firm has taken a cautious approach, citing “issues with transparency fees [and] liquidity.”

He says his firm has notified its clients about the executive order and the likelihood that the regulatory burden will be lowered, but it has not pushed clients to add the investments to their plan menus.

Recent strains in private credit markets have reinforced caution.

“The concerns that we had are happening,” Kelly says, adding that industry discussion of alternatives has “gotten a lot quieter” since retail investors began pulling their money out of private credit funds.

A Gradual Path Forward

Despite those challenges, few expect the push toward alternatives to reverse.

Uyeda emphasized that private and public markets are “symbiotic” and that expanding access is less about replacing one with the other than allowing investors to participate in both.

Fink, too, framed the shift as inevitable, driven by structural changes in how capital is formed and distributed. As more value is created outside public markets, limiting access may increasingly conflict with the goal of long-term retirement security.

For now, industry participants expect private credit to enter retirement plans first, with more complex strategies following only as systems and regulations evolve.

“It’s not a question of if—it’s a question of when,” Porter says.