US Banks Finance Their Own Competition to Tune of $1 Trillion

One of American banks’ fastest-growing businesses is lending to the very companies trying to grab their market share.

Traditional bank lending to non-bank financial institutions like private equity firms, hedge funds and private credit shops more than doubled in the past five years, according to data analyzed by Bloomberg. That 16% annualized rate far surpassed their lending to categories including agriculture, credit cards, commercial and industrial companies as well as foreign governments, the data show.