Private credit gets a closer look. Good.

WAKING UP AT LAST: It’s a start, I suppose; $2.1 trillion later, and people are starting to catch on: 

PRIVATE CREDIT ‘WARRANTS CLOSER
WATCH’ AMID RAPID GROWTH—IMF

The private credit market “warrants closer watch” amid rapid growth of what the International Monetary Fund said was an “opaque and highly interconnected segment of the financial system.”

The fast-growth asset class could “heighten financial vulnerabilities given its limited oversight,” according to a blog post published on April 8 and co-authored by Charles Cohen, an adviser in the IMF’s monetary and capital markets department . . .

About three-quarters of the more than $2.1 trillion in assets is in the U.S., representing a market share that is nearing that of syndicated loans and high-yield bonds. The fast-growing market has seen institutional investors “eagerly” investing in strategies that, although illiquid, offer high returns and less volatility, the blog said. . . .

[T]he migration of lending from regulated banks and public markets, to more opaque private credit “creates potential risks. Valuation is infrequent. . .” the IMF said. [Emphasis added.]

I especially enjoy the “valuation is infrequent” warning there at the end. These people seem to not understand that, to private credit investors, that’s a feature, not a bug.