How this job went from the Wall Street equivalent of a used car dealer to the hottest gig for 2026

"In the world of high finance, the secondary market - selling off pre-owned investments - was once considered Wall Street's version of a used-car lot. Few junior bankers clamored for the role, and bulge-bracket giants largely left the field to specialized boutiques. But those days are over, and America's biggest investment banks are aggressively piling in. "I used to have to explain the first 10 minutes of an interview what we do," Todd Miller, the global cohead of secondary advisory at longtime key player Jefferies, told Business Insider. "It's a very hot industry. Everyone's trying to get into this space.""

"In the post-pandemic years of high interest rates and muted valuations, a capital bottleneck has pushed private equity exits well past the industry's typical timeline. That delay has tested investors who backed PE funds and expected returns a long time ago. So-called "secondary" and "continuation vehicles" - structures that let PE firms shift ownership of a company from one fund to another, while giving existing investors the chance to cash out - have emerged as a key workaround."

"In a recent report, Jefferies said secondaries drove $240 billion in global transaction volumes last year, a 48% increase from the year prior. In late January, JPMorgan Chase announced a new "center of excellence" in its investment bank: the Private Capital Advisory and Solutions group. Led by veteran banker Keith Canton, the former head of equity capital markets in the Americas, the team will advise companies on a spectrum of liquidity solutions."

The secondary market for pre-owned private investments has shifted from a niche boutique business to a central liquidity channel for large banks. Prolonged holding periods for private equity assets, driven by high interest rates and muted valuations, have created a capital bottleneck that delays traditional exits and pressures limited partners. Secondary transactions and continuation vehicles allow fund managers to transfer ownership between funds and give existing investors an option to cash out. Global secondary transaction volumes jumped to roughly $240 billion last year. Major banks are creating dedicated private-capital advisory teams and hiring secondaries specialists to capture deal flow.

Read at Business Insider