New frontiers in private credit: opportunity through specialisation

A timely conversation

In late October 2025, Ocorian hosted a high-level roundtable at the House of Lords to explore the opportunities and challenges shaping private credit. We brought together leading voices from across the private credit ecosystem to discuss the most pressing issues facing this rapidly evolving market.

The timing was apt. The collapse of US-based auto lenders First Brands and Tricolor, both financed through private debt, had drawn renewed attention to non-bank lending. Their failures raised questions about contagion and risk, even if their circumstances were unique.

Meanwhile, the global economy remains unsettled. Geopolitical tensions and  elevated tariff rhetoric have continued to shape risk perception. While many of April’s “Liberation Day” levies have since been superseded by trade deals, average US import tariff rates are still higher than they have been since the 1930s.

Against this background, or despite it, private credit has remained buoyant, and our roundtable participants were generally optimistic. To some extent, their views mirrored Ocorian’s Annual Private Credit Survey, published earlier this year, which found strong momentum in the sector despite Washington’s unorthodox approach. In March, 95% of our respondents expected growth, and confidence had only dipped slightly when we quizzed them again after the US tariff policy changes.

Download our Private Credit Report below: