Jamie Dimon says private credit defaults are not threat to major banks
The boss of JP Morgan, Wall Street’s biggest bank, said a downturn across the $3tn private credit market would not put financial stability at risk, adding that losses would have to be “very large” before the pain rippled out to major banks.Dimon played down the potential impact that a series of private credit loan defaults would have on the wider financial system, arguing that while there were some areas of of weakness, the unregulated industry did not pose a “systemic” risk.“The actual credit hasn’t gotten that much worse.There are pockets where it has … so we’ll be watching it closely,” Dimon told analysts during an earnings call on Tuesday.“The big point, to me, is … I don’t think it’s systemic.
”“You have to have very large losses in private credit before – at least it looks like – banks … get hit,” he said.“It doesn’t mean you won’t feel some stress and strain, and you might have to do something about it, but I’m not particularly worried,” Dimon said.There have been growing jitters over potentially risky loans arranged by private credit firms, which lend to companies using investor money – rather than customer deposits or loans backed by those deposits – outside the traditional regulated banking system.Those anxieties have led to a multibillion-pound surge in withdrawals from some private credit funds such as Blue Owl, forcing them to cap the amount of money that clients can pull out.Wider concerns over the state of the industry, which boomed after stricter lending rules were imposed on traditional banks, emerged last autumn after the collapse of two private credit-backed US auto companies, Tricolor and First Brands.
Both companies have since been hit with fraud allegations, raising concerns over whether private credit lenders may have been too lenient when deciding whether firms were worth lending to.Dimon himself warned in October that more “cockroaches” were likely to emerge after the firms’ collapse, while the IMF subsequently subsequently warned of potential ripple effects that could ultimately hit high street banks.Big banks such as JP Morgan are also involved in private credit lending, but say they abide by stricter underwriting standards than some peers.Goldman Sachs’s chief executive, David Solomon, said on Monday that the bank actually logged an increase in private credit investments in the first quarter.He suggested that while high-net-worth individuals were pulling cash from some “retail” funds, institutional investors that had a longer view of their investments were holding their ground.
“Our 30-year track record of performance and private credit is characterised by rigorous underwriting, selective deployment, and disciplined portfolio construction,” Solomon said,JP Morgan on Tuesday reported a 13% jump in first-quarter profits to $16,5bn, while revenues rose 10% to $49,8bn,
Ben Stokes plays down talk of McCullum disagreement but plans ‘different’ path to success
Ben Stokes has moved to play down suggestions of a disagreement between himself and Brendon McCullum, insisting he and the England head coach remain aligned despite an Ashes defeat that, at times, suggested otherwise.In a video released by the England and Wales Cricket Board on Tuesday, the England Test captain stressed that he and McCullum agreeing with each other all the time would be “unhealthy”.They continue to share the same overall vision for the team, he added, but things will look “different” this summer.Stokes said: “As similar as me and Brendon are, we’re also dissimilar in other areas as well. But the thing we both want is to be as successful as we possibly can
Boss of the Bronx: the turbulent reign of George Steinbrenner, baseball’s ultimate showman
A new book looks at how an eccentric shipping magnate ushered in a long run of success for the New York YankeesGeorge Steinbrenner could be quite the pitchman – whether selling New York to free agents or starring in Pepto-Bismol TV ads alongside Billy Martin. And now a new book remembers the late Yankees owner and the dynasty he founded.The Bosses of the Bronx: The Endless Drama of the Yankees Under the House of Steinbrenner flows from the pen of sports journalist and author Mike Vaccaro. As the New York Post’s lead sports columnist for more than two decades, Vaccaro has witnessed the Steinbrenner dynasty from a rarefied perspective – the journalistic equivalent of a seat along the third-base line.Vaccaro remembers the first one-on-one phone call he got from Steinbrenner
The Masters, the Premier League run-in, the National: is there a better sporting month than April? | Sean Ingle
The thought struck me on the last rattler back from the Grand National, as Avanti’s wifi faltered somewhere outside Crewe and the Masters stream on my phone froze yet again. I was watching the world’s best golf tournament, on a train journey back from the world’s greatest steeplechase, having seen the best football match of the season – Real Madrid against Bayern Munich – earlier in the week. Is there a better month in the sporting calendar than April?Augusta always delivers. Club football hits peak levels of drama and jeopardy. Then there is Aintree, Paris-Roubaix, the start of the County Championship cricket season and the World Snooker Championship
Azzi Fudd taken first in WNBA draft by Dallas Wings in UConn reunion with Paige Bueckers
Azzi Fudd was selected by the Dallas Wings with the first pick of the WNBA draft on Monday night, capping a 12-month ascent from NCAA champion to the top overall choice and setting up a reunion with former University of Connecticut teammate Paige Bueckers.The 5ft 11in guard, who led UConn to last year’s national title and was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player, is the seventh player from the program to go No 1. Bueckers, the top selection by Dallas in the 2025 draft and the reigning WNBA rookie of the year, watched Fudd’s name called from a sold-out crowd at the Shed, the $500m cultural center at Hudson Yards on Manhattan’s west side.“I’m not really sure I have words to describe the feeling, what that meant,” Fudd said. “I don’t think it’s fully sunk in
WNBA draft: Azzi Fudd goes No 1, UCLA smash record and Flau’jae Johnson traded – as it happened
And with that, the draft is complete. Thanks for joining me. A big night for No 1 pick Azzi Fudd, the record-setting UCLA Bruins, the Washington Mystics and their six (!) picks, fashion and the future of women’s basketball.With that, all eyes turn to 8 May, the first day of the season. We’ll have an opening-night triple-header: Connecticut Sun v New York Liberty, Washington Mystics v Toronto Tempo, Golden State Valkyries v Seattle Storm
‘Carelessly squandered’: Wisden scolds England’s tumultuous Ashes tour
The latest edition of Wisden is unsparing in its criticism of England’s Test team, describing their Ashes defeat in Australia as a “wing-and-a-prayer” campaign that ended up “feckless, reckless and legless”.Published this Thursday, the sport’s longstanding bible has a strong Indian flavour to its awards. Haseeb Hameed, captain of title-winning Nottinghamshire, is the sole Englishman among the five players of the year, with Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj recognised for their roles in last year’s memorable 2-2 Test series draw in England.But the nature of England’s 4-1 defeat in Australia – a tour derailed by a poor buildup, lurching tactics, and accusations of an unprofessional approach off the field – leads this year’s notes, with the editor, Lawrence Booth, saying it is “hard to think of a privilege so carelessly squandered, a chance so blithely spurned”.Booth writes: “Much of the misery was self-inflicted: from the paper-thin preparation, via a string of schoolboy dismissals, to the revelation of Harry Brook’s scrape with a nightclub bouncer in New Zealand
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