T. Rowe Price Private Assets Test Retirement

T. Rowe Price just cleared $1.9 trillion in assets, and CEO Rob Sharps told Bloomberg Podcast that T. Rowe Price private assets will soon appear inside target-date trusts.

Two thirds of that AUM is retirement related.

Sharps has been with the Baltimore firm nearly 30 years, from analyst covering financials to CIO and now chairman and CEO, and says the founder's client first ethos still anchors strategy.

The full discussion can be found on Bloomberg Podcast's YouTube channel.

Why put private assets in retirement plans?

Sharps said the firm is operationally ready to launch a trust that adds private markets at certain points along the glide path. Initial demand will be narrow, from sponsors willing to trade liquidity for diversification and higher compound returns. He expects slow adoption while most sponsors watch fees, transparency and long term performance over decades, not quarters.

How is AI being deployed?

AI is pitched as an insight amplifier, not an analyst replacement. Every investment professional now has AI tools, with specialists paired to portfolio managers and analysts to surface signals from proprietary research. Sharps said that lets analysts spend more time on company engagement and expanded coverage while driving efficiency elsewhere.

Can ETFs and fixed income offset active equity outflows?

Passive now holds about 64% of US equity fund assets and gains 2 to 3 points a year, while the open-ended mutual fund loses centrality. T. Rowe is leaning into active ETFs, SMAs and trusts, plus steady growth in fixed income and its leading active and blend target-date franchise. Deals support the pivot: the 2021 OHA alternative credit acquisition, the Goldman Sachs partnership for public private products including a new interval fund, the FM Investments buy for liquidity and cash management ETFs and SMAs that stays independent at first, and an actively managed multi-token crypto ETF.

Investors want speed, Sharps wants durability, and Baltimore remains home for more than 7,000 associates in a new harbor building opened last year.