Caitlin McCabe

So sentiment about the private credit industry really began shifting last year and then kicked into overdrive further this year when traders really started to get spooked about AI and how it would affect software companies.

Some private credit firms have quite a bit of exposure to software loans.

We've also seen investors asking to pull money from these private credit firms.

And so now this is just the latest step of really seeing storm clouds growing over private credit.

Regulators are just starting to ask questions.

They're not sounding dire alarms.

And the Trump administration has basically said the same.

They don't think losses in private credit funds would ripple through the financial system.

And that's really similar to what executives and bankers have said, too.

At the same time, regulators are honing in on some of the areas of private credit that I think

folks really have had issues with.

So one of those things is the opacity surrounding private credit, meaning you just don't always know how these loans are valued.

Paul Atkins, the SEC chairman, talked about that very issue in a speech earlier this week.

Companies that paid millions and millions of dollars in tariffs are facing this crucial decision right now.

Do they want to potentially wait years for this refund process to play out?

Or do they want to strike a deal with an investment firm that's willing to give them a fraction of their money today?

So what we're seeing is sort of the latest iteration of this kind of fun and esoteric corner of finance where essentially investment firms will buy the rights to money that another party is owed.

Companies that paid millions and millions of dollars in tariffs are facing this crucial decision right now.

Do they want to potentially wait years for this refund process to play out after the Supreme Court decision that we got last week?

Or do they want to strike a deal with an investment firm that's willing to give them a fraction of their money today?