Marc Rubinstein of Net Interest - an in-depth tour of financial markets with an expert in finance and history

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s podcast provided us with an in-depth tour of financial markets with a student of both finance and history. And what a tour guide we had. Marc Rubinstein, an investment professional with 25 years of experience researching and investing in financial services joined us on the show.

Marc started his career as an equity research analyst, where he ultimately became a MD at Credit Suisse, leading the European banking sector equity research group before joining Lansdowne Partners. Lansdowne was one of Europe’s largest hedge funds, where he was a Partner and managed the award-winning $4B global long/short financials equity fund.

He retired from Lansdowne in 2016 and, after going back to school to obtain his MBA from LBS, he launched Net Interest, a wildly popular and incredibly thoughtful newsletter on financial sector themes. I find Marc’s thoughts and views on Net Interest equal parts insightful and digestible. Marc is also an active value investor and early-stage fintech investor, where he was an early investor in Revolut. He’s also a contributor to Bloomberg Opinion.

Marc and I had a fascinating conversation about a number of themes that are defining private markets. We discussed:

• Why most businesses are marketplaces and what that means for how one should evaluate a business.
• Whether or not private credit is a systemic risk.
• Why the Silicon Valley Bank crisis occurred and why private credit firms are filling the void.
• Where to look for new asset classes and how they become institutionalized.
• The nuts and bolts of alternative asset managers as businesses.
• Why pod shops have featured in the hedge fund world and why PE and VC will have different versions of pod shops.
• Why content is key for financial services businesses.
• How financial media has evolved and why the narrative arc of companies is a perspective that Marc enjoys covering

Thanks Marc for coming on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast to share your wisdom on financial services and financial markets.

Chapters

Introduction and Background

Getting into the World of Finance

Banks Today and the Rise of Alternative Asset Managers

Regulatory Concerns and Private Credit

Systemic Risk and Excessive Growth

Identifying Risks in Private Credit

Scale and Returns in Asset Management

The Growth of Large Platforms in Private Markets

The Equilibrium of Scale and Returns

The Convergence of Traditional and Alternative Asset Management

The Trend of Evergreen Funds in Private Markets

The Acquisition of GIP by BlackRock

The Competition Between BlackRock and Blackstone

The Merging of Traditional and Alternative Asset Management

The Future of Active Management

Lessons from the Financial Crisis

The Impact of Media on Financial Services

The Trend of Permanent Capital in Private Markets

The Evolution of Media in Financial Services

The Role of Content in Financial Services

The Importance of Understanding Financial Services History

The Relevance of Deep Analysis in Financial Services

Value Creation through Content

Different Paths for Content Businesses

Purity of Content in Financial Services

The Future of Content in Financial Services

The Impact of AI on Investment Recommendations

The Value of Artisanal Work and Intelligence

Pod Shops in Private Markets

GP Stakes as an Analogy to Pod Shops

The Psychology of Discounting Private Markets

The Growth and Sustainability of Private Markets

Infrastructure as an Interesting Alternative Investment