Coverage: weekly note · Information to 28 September 2026
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TGB Premium Intelligence · Research Note · 28 September 2026
The lender behind the lenders
US bank credit to non-bank financial institutions passes USD 2 trillion while European supervisors warn that private credit can send stress back into banks
The desk view
Private credit is often described as lending that has left the banking system. Data published over the past week say otherwise. Federal Reserve figures released on 25 September 2026 show US commercial banks' loans to non-depository financial institutions averaged USD 2.03 trillion in August 2026, up 19.2% in a year against 7.4% for all loans. On 22 September the St. Louis Fed showed that less-traditional lending, which includes loans to non-banks, reached 12.6% of assets at the eight US G-SIBs. A day later the three European Supervisory Authorities named private credit one of three priority vulnerabilities, noting that EU banks' reported exposures are small but growing fast and that the larger risks are more likely to come from the US. Banks have not lost the credit business to private funds; they have moved one step back and become their financiers. Boards should now measure that exposure as one risk rather than as scattered facilities across business lines.
A third of US loan growth now goes to non-banks
The Federal Reserve's H.8 release of 25 September 2026 puts seasonally adjusted loans to non-depository financial institutions at USD 2,025.5 billion in August 2026, up from USD 1,699.9 billion a year earlier. Total loans and leases rose from USD 13,042.2 billion to USD 14,004.6 billion over the same period. Loans to non-banks therefore accounted for about a third of all new US bank lending in the year, and their share of the loan book rose from 13.0% to 14.5%. The weekly series continued to climb into September, reaching USD 2,047.0 billion in the week to 16 September.
This category is broad. It includes loans to mortgage, business and consumer credit intermediaries, private equity funds, insurance companies, private capital funds, hedge funds, pension funds and securitisation vehicles. It is not a clean measure of private credit.