SEC Commissioner Uyeda’s Speech Regarding Retirement Fund Exposure to Private Investments

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Quick Take: At the November 20, 2025, Investment Company Institute (“ICI”) Retail Alternatives and Closed-End Funds Conference in New York, SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda urged retirement plan advisers to use private asset investments to increase portfolio diversification and outlined the regulatory coordination needed among the SEC, DOL and Congress to encourage this diversification. 

The focus of Commissioner Uyeda’s speech was the evolving role of private investments within diversified portfolios. He noted how retirement funds, particularly 401(k) plans, could benefit from measured exposure to private investments as part of a broader diversification strategy.

Commissioner Uyeda acknowledged the significant transformation of the retirement system over time and emphasized that exclusive reliance on public market investments no longer ensures the level of diversification and potential returns historically presumed to be sufficient.

He suggested that modern retirement portfolios should include an appropriate level of private investments, such as private equity, private credit, real estate, infrastructure, and venture capital investments, to provide a more diversified portfolio than what exists solely from public market investments. Commissioner Uyeda pointed to the practices of institutional investors, who have long utilized private assets as a method to stabilize and enhance portfolio performance, as a model for potential exposure to private investments in retirement plans.

Commissioner Uyeda emphasized that regulation of investments in private securities by retirement plans should not be based on the premise that zero exposure is inherently safer or preferable to some level of exposure. In this regard, Commissioner Uyeda called for the establishment of regulatory “guardrails” that would provide a framework for fiduciaries to prudently allocate a reasonable portion of retirement funds to private investments. He believes that appropriate regulation should reflect the trust in which investors place in their plan fiduciaries, with their focus on protecting investors’ best interests. In the Commissioner’s view, private assets can be responsibly integrated into retirement portfolios with the application of appropriate safeguards, continued oversight by fiduciaries, and thoughtful design.

Commissioner Uyeda called for regulatory alignment between the SEC and the Department of Labor (DOL) in order to facilitate the investment of private securities in 401(k) plans. He stated that the SEC’s mission to protect investors and facilitate capital formation must be harmonized with the DOL’s responsibility to safeguard retirement assets. He envisions a unified regulatory framework that would provide rules for disclosure, fee transparency, conflicts of interest, valuation practices, and custody safeguards for private investments by retirement offerings. He also noted that litigation reform by Congress may be necessary to give plan fiduciaries the leeway to include private assets in retirement portfolios.

Commissioner Uyeda noted that the SEC recently liberalized the 15% cap on investments in private funds for retail closed-end funds. This action by the SEC reflected marketplace changes and how investments in private securities or other alternative investments are increasingly important in ensuring diversification of investment portfolios.

Commissioner Uyeda urged conference attendees to express their views to the SEC and DOL on how to best permit the responsible inclusion of private investments into retirement plans. The Commissioner concluded his remarks by stating that “while there might be [a] debate on what is the optimal level of exposure to private investments, what is clear is that the answer is not zero.”

For more detailed information on Commissioner Uyeda’s remarks, the full transcript of Commissioner Uyeda’s speech is available here.