The retail pivot, and why it matters
For most of its history, private credit was an institutional asset class. Bélanger traces a structural shift in fundraising to the period around the start of the pandemic, when institutional fundraising slowed and large U.S. money managers turned their attention to designing products for wealth and retail platforms. “That was a real change in the private credit industry,” he said, “because prior to that, you had to be a sophisticated investor, with significant resources, to have access to the asset class.” Registered investment advisors and the broader wealth distribution system, he noted, had no meaningful access to institutional-quality managers before that pivot.