Direct lending
Direct lending is when a non-bank lender (usually an insurance company or an investment firm) lends directly to ultimate borrowing companies rather than doing so via a bank or a hedge fund. Funds themselves dedicated to direct lending have grown up.
Direct lending has often been looked down upon by banks. For example, Lawrence Delevingne writing for Reuters[1] (July 24 2017) says "direct lenders make high-interest rate loans, usually to fledgling or struggling businesses passed over by banks". However, as banks struggled to lend to smaller companies following new capital requirements following the global financial crisis starting in 2007/8 and the eurozone crisis starting in 2009, direct lending has grown and some banks themselves started conducting some of their corporate lending via direct-lending funds.
Other links
US direct lending fund raises $4.5bn (FT October 12 2017
Gillian Tett on growth of direct lending and its implications (FT October 12 2017)
