Why do banks even exist in a world of burgeoning private credit? Theoretically because cheap customer deposits allow traditional institutions to lend profitably. As the old joke goes: banking is as easy as 1-2-3. Pay depositors 1 per cent, lend at 2, hit the golf course by 3.
Maybe, though, that textbook understanding is wrong. The Bank for International Settlements recently examined how the “weighted average cost of capital of banks” has evolved between the pre-financial crisis era and today. It found they’re not so competitive after all.
Within the larger and growing world of private credit, one threat to bankers’ 3pm round of golf comes from ‘business development companies’ or BDCs, a kind of publicly traded middle-market lender that raises its money from investors by issuing both stock and bonds. They are growing in size; the largest, backed by Ares Capital, has around $14bn of assets.