SEC’s Atkins Says Ballooning Private Markets Not a Systemic Risk

The head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission said he does not view private credit as a systemic risk, the latest signal of the regulator’s openness to more activity in the fast-growing market.

“I view the private markets as very important,” SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said at a conference in New York hosted by the Managed Funds Association.

The private credit market has ballooned in recent years in part because of tightened lending standards at traditional banks after the 2008 financial crisis. As the market grows, some lawmakers and regulators have raised concerns about the lack of regulation, the ...