A new Schroders survey of 207 North American institutions finds active management and private markets are the top responses to rising volatility
A survey from global asset manager Schroders finds institutional investors across North America are reshaping portfolios. The main drivers: sustained volatility, geopolitical disruption, and heavy market concentration.
The findings are directly relevant to Canadian pension funds, endowments, and foundations navigating the same pressures their peers are reporting.
The 2026 Global Investor Insights Survey polled 207 North American institutional investors, including pension funds, insurance companies, endowments, and foundations. Fieldwork was conducted by CoreData Research in April and May 2026.
Why institutional investors see more volatility ahead
Some 79 per cent of institutional investors expect more market volatility over the next 12 months than in the year before.
The top drivers cited were:
- Geopolitical escalation or armed conflict (52 per cent)
- Commodity and energy price shocks (46 per cent)
- AI-driven disruption, including labour market weakness and sector reallocation (43 per cent)
Geopolitical concerns are already shaping current decisions. Seventy-one per cent of respondents said the conflict in the Middle East is actively influencing their investment decision-making today.
For Canadian institutional investors reassessing their exposure to global markets, these findings align with a broader peer-driven shift toward building more resilient, diversified portfolios.
Share of North American institutional investors, 2026 (%)
Source: Schroders 2026 Global Investor Insights Survey, conducted by CoreData Research, April–May 2026. North American institutional investor respondents: 207.
Active management as a tool for concentration risk
Concentration risk — not general market decline — is the concern driving the strongest response from institutional investors in the survey.
Eighty-two per cent said active management can help them meet their investment objectives over the next 12 to 18 months.
Nearly 4 in 10 (39 per cent) said they are specifically increasing allocations to active management to reduce concentration risk. That was the most frequently cited reason in the North American results.
Global equities were identified as the asset class most likely to benefit from that shift, with 36 per cent selecting it.
Tom Darnowski, CEO of Americas at Schroders, said the survey reflects how investors are balancing competing objectives. “What’s striking is that investors aren’t responding by abandoning growth,” he said. “Instead, they’re looking for ways to balance growth ambitions with greater diversification, income generation and portfolio resilience.”
Income generation across public and private markets
Institutional investors are broadening how they source income, moving beyond traditional asset-class boundaries.
Fifty-seven per cent said they now assess income-producing opportunities across equities, fixed income, and private markets together — rather than evaluating each in isolation.
The top three motivations for allocating to income-generating assets were:
- diversifying away from pure growth strategies (47 per cent)
- generating regular cash flow (46 per cent)
- reducing portfolio volatility while preserving capital (43 per cent)
Among specific income opportunities, equity income ranked first at 43 per cent. Actively managed public corporate bonds followed at 38 per cent, with diversified government bond exposures at 36 per cent.
Private market allocations on the rise
Private equity allocations are expected to grow. Ninety per cent of North American institutional investors currently allocate some portion of their portfolio to private equity. That figure is expected to reach 93 per cent over the next 12 to 24 months.
Private credit allocations are also shifting. These are expected to rise from 25 per cent to 33 per cent of credit portfolios over the next two years.
At the same time, the share with no private credit allocation at all is expected to decline from 17 per cent to 15 per cent.
Canadian pension funds have reported similar trends in their own private market exposure. Private credit demand is rising alongside calls for stronger credit research and active oversight.
For those tracking private credit conditions, Schroders’ data points to continued institutional demand — even as parts of the market come under pressure.
Find the 2026 Global Investor Insights Survey on schroders.com.
For more on how institutional investors are approaching private markets, explore our alternative investments page
