Franklin Templeton packages private markets into model portfolios

Private-markets access used to turn on relationships. The ticket was to get a client into a good fund. Now the ticket has to work in an ordinary advisory account: what does the position cost to run, how fast can it be rebalanced, and can it sit there without a dedicated alternatives back office? Five firms — Franklin Templeton, MyVest, Altruist, RFG and Natixis — announced moves aimed at that second set of problems this month, per Wealth Solutions Report's June roundup.

Franklin Templeton launched Private Markets Model Portfolios with Corastone, whose systems do the subscription processing, rebalancing, portfolio administration and ongoing management. The portfolios combine Franklin Templeton's public and private markets capabilities with Corastone's infrastructure in an SMA-style, single-subscription structure. One ticket buys the diversified private-markets exposure; the stack of fund documents and capital-call notices goes away.

George Stephan, Franklin Templeton's chief operating officer for global wealth management private markets, says the single-ticket design cuts operational complexity and scales better, all while keeping the exposure inside a professionally managed model. In plain terms, Corastone takes over the back office and the advisor's operations team gets its time back.

Separately, Franklin Templeton built Porterhouse with Ritholtz Wealth Management, an active quant equity SMA that runs on Franklin's Canvas platform and is offered only to Ritholtz clients. The strategy starts with large-cap names in the top half of the Russell 1000, then screens on momentum and fundamental factors such as earnings and cash flows. Ritholtz oversees more than $7.6 billion, per the roundup.

Franklin Templeton is not alone. MyVest added Separately Managed Models. Altruist added alternative assets to its platform. RFG partnered with iCapital. Natixis Investment Managers and Loomis Sayles launched a credit interval fund. The routes differ. The common aim is a model-portfolio workflow that treats alternatives like an equity ETF.

The wrapper debate comes down to fees and taxes. Julius Buchanan, editor in chief of Wealth Solutions Report, argued that better execution gives advisory firms lower costs and better client service. The lower costs are what let private markets sit in a model without a separate alts fee stack. The roundup does not say whether the single-subscription structure delivers the tax features of a true SMA, such as tax-lot harvesting or avoiding pooled-fund capital gains. If not, the SMA-style label is a workflow convenience, not a tax product.

Due diligence is the test. When alternatives stood alone as interval funds, the hard call was which fund to buy. Wrapped into a model, the decision moves to the wrapper, the rebalancing engine and the platform overlay — the places that actually set fees and tax outcomes. That is less glamorous than a vintage-year story. It is also what will separate the next wave of alternatives platforms.

For RIAs, the practical check is whether the model runs on the same people and software that run their public-market models. If it needs a specialist, the fee and tax savings are less than the pitch suggests.