Updates - Sascha Steffen

Who ultimately bears the credit risk when a chipmaker organizes half a trillion dollars of debt for its own customers?

The narrative on European private credit has flipped.

The consensus on private credit right now is calm, and it is calm for a defensible reason.

I recently presented new research to the European Systemic Risk Board's Advisory Scientific Committee on a question that has been bothering me for some time: what do we actually know about European bank exposure to private credit?

Europe's private credit market has reached an inflection point.

The debate "Banks vs.

Sascha Steffen · April 12, 2026 On Friday, the Federal Reserve began asking major US banks for details about their exposure to private credit.

Erstmals planen mehr deutsche Mittelständler die Schließung ihres Unternehmens als eine Nachfolge.

That is a somewhat scary figure as the market tells us risks need to be priced in!

March 14, 2026 A Goldman Sachs executive told the bank's private credit clients this week that some of them were "just glad there's something to talk about that isn't software exposures and private credit."

January 17, 2026 The first two weeks of 2026 have provided more clarity on private credit's structural trajectory than the entire fourth quarter of 2025.

What is often overlooked is that banks do not treat “funding diversification” as neutral.

The Real Question Is not "Who Wins?"

The latest earnings-call–based 12‑month‑ahead CapEx expectations show a clear end‑of‑year drop in Germany.

The conversation still mixes apples and oranges.

December 13, 2025 Introduction The private credit market is experiencing what might best be described as an identity crisis.

December 1, 2025 Executive Summary The private credit market is facing its most significant stress test since inception.

The sudden collapse of First Brands Group shows how today’s credit markets have outgrown the rules built to keep them safe.

In a recent Financial Times article, Jim Chanos warns that the private credit boom is structurally fragile, built on opaque financing and unrealistic return promises, and that First Brands’ bankruptcy may foreshadow broader systemic risks similar to Enron…

In the last twenty years, assets managed by nonbank financial institutions—commonly referred to as "shadow banks"—have grown significantly, a trend documented extensively in studies such as Acharya et al. (2024a).