曼哈顿联邦检察官、前 SEC 主席 Jay Clayton 表示，私人信贷不是对金融体系的威胁，而是美国经济的重要支撑。他在周三的 Managed Funds Association 会议上发言时，并借助自己曾任 Apollo Global Management 董事会主席的背景，主张该领域没有过度杠杆的证据；他还说，在 2008 年金融危机之后，美国以部分私人信贷取代银行放贷而受益，不像他所说成长没有那么强劲的欧洲。
他的发言出现在外界审视加剧之际，Jamie Dimon 警告说，向高负债公司放贷的机构可能面临超出预期的损失，因为信贷标准正在弱化。Clayton 表示，危机通常源于隐藏杠杆或流动性冲击，但他看不出私人信贷向更广泛经济传导的明确机制；同时他补充说，为了提高费用而错误标记资产应该受到调查。随著 Elizabeth Warren 警告财政部长 Scott Bessent 和 SEC 主席 Paul Atkins，称私人信贷的下行可能影响金融稳定，并批评她所称对新兴风险反应迟缓，这场辩论也变得更加尖锐。
文章指出，银行通过提供数千亿美元融资，助长了私人信贷热潮，其中包括透过特殊目的实体向基金及其投资者提供杠杆；欧洲中央银行表示，这种做法可以传递、放大并重新分配冲击。近期的压力事件包括对 First Brands 和 Tricolor 高管的诈欺指控、几家大型银行出现损失、过去 6 个月私人信贷的大额亏损，以及针对 Blue Owl 和一档由 KKR 管理基金的股东诉讼。尽管如此，Apollo 和 Blackstone 的领导人，包括 Marc Rowan 和 Stephen Schwarzman，都表示他们看不到系统性风险，虽然他们也承认，违约、利率上升，以及 AI 对负债累累的软体借款人的压力，已加剧外界担忧。
Jay Clayton, the Manhattan US attorney and former SEC chair, said private credit is not a threat to the financial system but a major support for the US economy. Speaking at a Managed Funds Association conference on Wednesday, and drawing on his background as a former Apollo Global Management board chair, he argued that there is no evidence of excess leverage in the sector and that the US has benefited from substituting some bank lending with private credit after the 2008 financial crisis, unlike Europe, which he said did not grow as strongly.
His comments came amid growing scrutiny after Jamie Dimon warned that lenders to highly indebted companies could face larger-than-expected losses as credit standards weaken. Clayton said crises usually stem from hidden leverage or liquidity shocks, but he sees no clear transmission mechanism from private credit to the wider economy, while adding that mis-marking assets to boost fees should be investigated. The debate has sharpened as Elizabeth Warren warned Treasury secretary Scott Bessent and SEC chair Paul Atkins that a downturn in private credit could affect financial stability, and criticized what she called their delayed response to emerging risks.
The article notes that banks have helped fuel the private credit boom by providing hundreds of billions of dollars in financing, including leverage to funds and their investors through special-purpose vehicles, which the European Central Bank says can transmit, amplify, and redistribute shocks. Recent stress has included fraud charges against First Brands and Tricolor executives, losses at several big banks, heavy private credit losses over the past 6 months, and shareholder lawsuits against Blue Owl and a KKR-managed fund. Even so, leaders at Apollo and Blackstone, including Marc Rowan and Stephen Schwarzman, say they do not see systemic risk, though they acknowledge defaults, rising rates, and AI pressure on debt-laden software borrowers have increased concerns.