Key takeaways:
- As the financing needs of companies continue to grow beyond what traditional bank lending can or will support, private credit assets under management are anticipated to reach $4.5 trillion by 2030. Asset-backed finance is positioned to be a primary growth path for the asset class over the next several years.
- For investors already participating in private credit, ABF represents the natural next layer in constructing a more complete private credit allocation. For those building exposure for the first time, ABF’s shorter duration, self-amortizing repayments, and structural provisions offer participation with embedded safeguards.
- Disciplined underwriting, rigorous legal structuring, continuous collateral monitoring, and institutional-grade execution are what separate durable ABF programs from opportunistic ones.
The global private credit market is estimated at $2.3 trillion in assets under management. As the financing needs of companies continue to grow beyond what traditional bank lending can or will support, assets under management are anticipated to reach $4.5 trillion by 2030.1
The asset class consists of multiple approaches, including direct lending, mezzanine debt, distressed debt, and asset-backed finance (ABF). While direct lending represents the majority of market share, capital is increasingly flowing into a broader set of strategies as investors and managers look beyond traditional corporate lending. A notable source of that broadening is ABF, an area where private capital has historically had limited presence, but where the underlying opportunity is substantial.
ABF comprises lending secured by pools of hard or financial assets. It is one of the fastest-growing and most underpenetrated segments of private credit, with an estimated addressable market of $5.5 trillion in the U.S. alone. Private credit managers hold less than 5% share of the market, leaving the large majority of eligible collateral still financed through banks or untapped by private capital.
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1 Source: Preqin, as cited by S&P Global Market Intelligence, November 2025.
Note: The $4.5T global private credit AUM figure represents capital currently deployed, or projected to be deployed, across all strategies. The $5.5T ABF opportunity figure represents Oliver Wyman’s estimate of the total addressable U.S. ABF market, the ceiling of eligible collateral (not capital currently deployed) and is not directly comparable to or additive with the $4.5T global AUM figure.
