Risks associated with the leveraged loan market are still “high” despite marginal improvements in corporate creditworthiness in 2021, top US banking regulators have warned.
In a report released on Monday, the Federal Reserve Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency flagged mounting vulnerabilities across a number of sectors hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, including commercial real estate. Most of the riskiest loans, they warn, are held by non-bank financial entities.
Companies across the credit spectrum have rushed to borrow cash in recent years, initially to build a buffer to outlast the pandemic and later to refinance their borrowing at lower rates of interest.