UBS Boss Is Right on Private Credit Rating Risks
UBS Chair Colm Kelleher has pointed the finger at the systemic risk posed by private credit, insurers and a lack of regulation.
Photographer: Lam Yik/BloombergThe war of words between private credit and banks has stepped up a notch. Colm Kelleher, chairman of the Swiss lender UBS Group AG, warned this week that poor insurance regulation and credit ratings arbitrage were creating systemic risks, especially in the US. Marc Rowan, chief executive officer of Apollo Global Management, the private capital manager that owns life insurer Athene, shot back: “Colm is just wrong.”
In recent weeks, there’s been mutual sniping between the two sides of the debt industry about lending standards, risk management and who made the errors in financing the failed companies Tricolor and First Brands — the banks that underwrote the corporate loans, or the private managers that put up the supply chain and inventory funding.