Europe’s Regulators May Launch Private Credit Inquiry

Europe’s Systemic Risk Board is weighing a formal inquiry into private‑credit activity amid concerns about its rapid growth and links to insurers, pension funds and banks. While regulators and academics say leverage in private‑credit funds does not yet look extreme, interconnections and recent retail redemptions have raised financial‑stability flags. The sector has grown to roughly $2 trillion in loans to investment‑grade borrowers, data centers and power companies; Ares manages about $90 billion in its European private‑credit funds. European officials, including ECB supervisors, are watching closely and may increase oversight or regulation—steps that could pressure valuations, investor flows and lenders such as KKR, Blackstone and Ares.