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Influencer Marketing
Expand your reach and engage with your target audience using this trending technique that blends celebrity endorsements with social media marketing.
Leading High Performing Remote Teams
How can leaders ensure that performance remains high in remote or hybrid-work environments?
Design Thinking
Learn the 5 phases of this problem-solving methodology and switch from technology-centered to user-centered thinking.
Gantt Chart
Invented in the early 20th century, the Gantt Chart is one of the building blocks of modern project management. In this online course, you'll learn how this tool can be used effectively to monitor progress and achieve your team's goals.
Navigating Change Successfully
The working landscape is continually shifting and being disrupted, so how to employees maintain a sense of stability? Listen to CEO and president of Carl ZEISS Japan Stefan Sacre share his expertise on dealing with change in organizations and entire industries.
Halo Effect
The halo effect is often leveraged for marketing and promotion. But as a type of cognitive bias, it can also have a subconscious impact on decision-making in the workplace. Learn why and (how to overcome it) in this online course.
Anchoring and Framing
Want to increase your confidence during negotiations? Master the principles of anchoring and framing to take your negotiation skills to the next level.
ZOPA and BATNA
Understanding ZOPA and BATNA will help you become a better negotiator, create more value, and feel more confident at the table.
Content Marketing
In this course, you’ll learn how compelling blogs, videos, podcasts, and other media can reach customers and drive sales. You’ll also learn steps for creating an effective content marketing plan, and some important ways to measure its impact and success.
Content marketing is a essential digital marketing strategy for companies looking to provide relevant and useful information to support your community and attract new customers.
Get started on your content marketing journey today.
Sustainable Innovation in Times of Disruption: Choices for a Better Society
There are opportunities for progress all around us. The key is to innovate on these opportunities sustainably.
To help identify most effective path forward, you'll need to gain a global perspective to these challenges in an open discussion. How can Japan and the world take action to create a more sustainable, innovative world? Where do you fit in?
It's time to find out.
Social Media & Digital Communications: Impact on Global Public Opinion
Social and digital media have dominated the communications industry for decades. But it's no secret that social media has the power to sway public opinion, and the way in which many companies use these platforms could be seen as manipulative.
What do companies need to be aware of when utilizing social and digital media? How can these mediums be used to better communicate strategically with the world?
Discover what top media and communications experts have to say.
Blockchain
Blockchain is one of the most captivating technologies out there. Learn what it is and how to make use of its opportunities in this short online course.
Mehrabian’s Rule
The 7-38-55 Rule, developed by Albert Mehrabian, suggests that effective communication relies less on the words we choose than on our tone of our voice, appearance, and body language. Learn how to put this theory to use for better communication in business.
Pareto Principle
Your time and resources are limited. Efficiency means learning to prioritize. The Pareto principle (also called the 80-20 rule) can help you identify the best way to use your time for maximum results.
Country Analysis Framework
Overseas expansion requires careful planning. The Country Analysis Framework can help you look beyond an industry-level analysis and reframe your view based on performance, strategy, and context. Try this short course to learn how it works.
SECI Model
The SECI model illustrates how knowledge is created and shared. Learn how to put it to use for best practices, and how the Japanese concept of “ba” fits in to broaden your perspective.
Johari Window Model
The Johari Window Model is a self-awareness framework that helps you better understand . . . you. Learn how its four quadrants can help you identify gaps between how you see yourself, and how others see you.
Sunk Costs
Wondering if you should continue an investment or look for something new? Sunk costs can have a powerful psychological impact on decision-making. Learn how to recognize them to ensure rational decisions.
CAGE Distance Framework
Want to expand overseas? The CAGE distance framework can help ensure you're constructing a solid global strategy in four areas: cultural, administrative, economic, and geographic. Learn how to leverage useful differences between countries, identify potential obstacles, and achieve global business success.
Groupthink
Groupthink refers to group pressure and the perception of consensus which together lead to ill-formed decisions—or even unnecessary risks. Learn to identify the warning signs of groupthink and apply countermeasures in this online course.
Deductive and Inductive Reasoning
Solving problems with the best results means using two types of thinking: deductive and inductive reasoning. In this online course, learn to form a broad premise, make observations, and form conclusions from different perspectives.
Critical Thinking: Hypothesis-Driven Thinking
Anyone can come up with a good idea. The real challenge is putting that idea into action. In this online course, explore how to form compelling, testable hypotheses and bring ideas to life in your own organization.
Critical Thinking: Structured Reasoning
Even a few simple techniques for logical decision making and persuasion can vastly improve your skills as a leader. Explore how critical thinking can help you evaluate complex business problems, reduce bias, and devise effective solutions.
Critical Thinking: Problem-Solving
Problem-solving is a central business skill, and yet it's the one many people struggle with most. This course will show you how to apply critical thinking techniques to common business examples, avoid misunderstandings, and get at the root of any problem.
How to Dream
Join globally renowned author and Columbia Business School professor Dr. Sheena Iyengar as she explains how to approach your dreams with a new perspective. Learn to reflect on what you long to accomplish and what stands in your way.
Logical Thinking
Logical thinking is at the heart of confident, persuasive decisions. This course will equip you with a five-point approach to more becoming a more logical thinker. Learn to classify ideas and distinguish fact from opinion.
Investing & Diversity: The Changing Faces of Venture Capitalists
Is the venture capital industry embracing diversity in investors? Watch global venture capitalists from around the world discuss the state of things and what needs to be done for a more inclusive future.
Servant Leadership
There's more to leadership than driving a team to profit. In fact, there's a word for looking beyond self-interest to prioritize individual growth: servant leadership. Try this course for a quick breakdown of what that is, how it works, and how it can lead to organizational success.
Organizational Behavior and Leadership
Ever wonder what makes a great leader? Whether your role requires leadership or not, understanding organizational behavior is useful for your career. This course from GLOBIS Unlimited can set you on your way.
Leadership vs. Management
Leadership and management are different skills, but today’s leaders must have both. Try out this course from GLOBIS Unlimited to understand the difference, as well as when and why each skill is necessary for motivation, communication, and value.
Strategy: Creating Value Inside Your Company
Have you ever wondered why certain companies are more successful than others? The answer is strategy: internal processes that control costs, allocate resources, and create value. This course from GLOBIS Unlimited can give you the tools you need for that strategic edge.
Strategy: Understanding the External Environment
To plan strategy on any level, you need to understand your company's external environment. In fact, your level of understanding can impact hiring, budgeting, marketing, or nearly any other part of the business world. Want to learn how to do all that? This course from GLOBIS Unlimited is the perfect first step!
Using Japanese Values to Thrive in Global Business
Japanese companies have unique cultural, communication, and operational challenges. But they also have values that have led to remarkable longevity. Check out this seminar to hear how these values help earn trust from overseas head offices and develop employees.
Turnaround Leadership: The Differences Between Japan and the West
What's the best way for leaders to communicate a shift in corporate strategy? How do you even know when it's time for such a change? This course explains how Japan might have one answer, Western companies another.
Conflict Management
Conflicts in the workplace are inevitable. But they can lead to positive outcomes if they’re managed well. Check out this online course for a two-step process that can help you manage conflict successfully.
Evernote Founder: How Tech Startups Can Break through in Japan
Can startup models from Hollywood and Silicon Valley succeed anywhere? Phil Libin, cofounder and CEO of startup incubator All Turtles, explains how AI can solve everyday problems to bring products to market.
Women Empowerment: Lessons from Cartier
How can women overcome gender inequality and reach their leadership goals? Cartier Japan CEO June Miyachi shares her secret in this special course from GLOBIS Unlimited.
Marketing: Reaching Your Target
Every company works hard to get its products into the hands of customers. Are you doing everything you can to compete? In this course, you’ll find a winning formula to turn a product idea into real sales. Follow along through the fundamentals of the marketing mix and see how companies successfully bring products to market.
Marketing Mix
Seeing good products into the hands of customers is no easy task. The marketing mix can help. It's a collection of strategies and tactics companies utilize to get customers to purchase their products or services, and is an essential part of the overall marketing process.
The Principles of Negotiation
With the proper skills and attitude, anyone can become a successful negotiator. But first, you'll need to learn the basics to prepare for, assess, and respond to offers for the best results. GLOBIS Unlimited can help.
Negotiation: Creating Value
Want to create more shared value between yourself and your negotiation opponent? Discover how cognitive bias affects the judgment of others. Try this course from GLOBIS Unlimited to master the value of negotiation.
Finding Your Life Purpose with Ikigai
Ikigai can guide you in your quest for self-discovery. Listen to Japanese brain scientist Ken Mogi explain why and how.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Want to leverage Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as a leader? Try this short course to see how the theory can be applied in practical work scenarios.
Confirmation Bias
We all subconsciously collect information that reinforces our preconceptions. It's natural . . . but it does lead to a kind of flawed decision-making called confirmation bias. To become more objective and impartial, check out this course from GLOBIS Unlimited!
An Investor's Lesson to Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs have the power to transform societies for the better. But how do you attract investors to start or grow a business? Or to sell one? Check out this seminar for the answers to these and more, straight from a master venture capitalist!
Managerial Accounting
Managerial accounting is a powerful way to measure progress, identify problems, and meet your goals. Check out this course to learn how data-backed decisions can help you run your business.
Finance Basics: 1
For a healthy mix of quantitative planning, evaluation, and management, you need solid decision-making. And finance is the secret sauce! Get the essentials of finance in this two-part course from GLOBIS Unlimited.
Basic Accounting: Financial Analysis
Want to compare your performance vs. a competitor? Or evaluate a potential vendor? Then you'll need to conduct a financial analysis. This course will teach you how to use three financial statements and evaluate financial performance in terms of profitability, efficiency, soundness, growth, and overall strength.
Career Anchors
What drives you to be good at your job?
Career anchors are based on your values, desires, motivations, and abilities. They are the immovable parts of your professional self-image that guide you throughout your career journey.
Try this short GLOBIS Unlimited course to identify which of the eight career anchors is yours!
Digital Marketing Psychology to Transform Your Business
How does digital marketing really differ from traditional marketing? How is social media changing things really? And what's going on in Asia?
Pyramid Structure
Having the pyramid structure in your communication toolkit can not only help you approach a problem, but convince others that your solution is valid. Break away from linear thinking and test your logical thinking with this course from GLOBIS Unlimited!
Leadership with Passion through Kokorozashi
The key ingredient to success? Passion.
Finding your kokorozashi will unify your passions and skills to create positive change in society. This GLOBIS Unlimited course will help you develop the values and lifelong goals you need to become a strong, passion-driven leader.
AI First Companies – Implementation and Impact
AI is changing the way companies operate. How do you structure teams to increase efficiency?
Technovate in the Era of Industry 4.0
Is Industry 4.0 is the next step of human evolution human civilization? Dr. Jorge Calvo seems to think so. Join him to learn how the past can help you set goals for an exciting future of digital innovation.
Technovate Thinking
Business leaders of tomorrow need to harness the power of technology and innovation. That means understanding algorithms and how they drive business results. Discover opportunities to make technology work for your competitive edge.
Product Life Cycle
Every product takes a natural course through the market—there's a how, when, and why customers adopt products at different stages. Check out this course from GLOBIS Unlimited to find out how a product you use every day is part of this cycle.
Logic Tree
Logical thinking is the most valuable asset any business professional can have. That's why logic trees are such a valuable tool—they can help you identify a problem, break it down, and build it back up to a solution.
MECE Principle
Using the MECE principle can help ensure you categorize without gaps or overlaps. Check out this course from GLOBIS Unlimited for a practical demonstration of how it works!
TL:DR; Climbing interest rates and tightening fiscal regulations have made it more challenging for businesses to borrow capital from cautious banks in today’s unpredictable post-pandemic global economy. Small- and medium-sized firms in need of growth financing and distressed companies seeking a bailout have instead paved the way for an alternative asset class that is rapidly filling a void traditional lending can’t address. Private credit is steadily establishing its foothold in global capital structure–and investors are paying attention.
Private credit–or non-bank lending–has been gaining popularity in recent years as a reliable investment vehicle that delivers results. While not as trendy as cryptocurrency or as familiar as stocks and bonds, this unconventional asset class is set for exponential growth–expected to reach US$2.6 trillion by 2029, from US$1 trillion in 2020.
Stricter bank lending requirements and restrictions caused by the 2008 global financial crisis have led borrowers to look outside the traditional banking system for fast, easily accessible loans with flexible terms. This growing demand for capital has outstripped supply–positioning private credit as an alternative source of financing for many businesses while also creating new investment opportunities outside the confines of the traditional banking system and public markets.
What is Private Credit and How Does it Work?
Private credit–a subset of private debt–refers to loans that are privately negotiated between a borrower and a non-bank lender. The key word here is non-bank. These loans don’t traditionally come from banks but instead come from private funds managed by asset management firms.
The idea of directly lending money to a borrower, with interest, is as ancient as the Mesopotamian farmers who first borrowed seeds from temples and wealthy individuals to plant in their fields. These “loans” would be repaid with a portion of the harvested crops going to lenders–including additional crops as interest.
Today, private credit is mostly favored by mid-sized firms that need quick, accessible, tailor-made loans for expansion, acquisitions, or working capital without the hurdles of bureaucratic red tape, strict requirements and slow approval processes common to traditional bank loans. Lenders and creditors are essentially investors, providing capital or financing for businesses in exchange for interest payments.
Private credit investments broadly fall into two categories: direct lending and asset-based finance (ABF). The former mainly involves corporations directly taking out and repaying loans, while the latter is secured by a wide variety of collateral–which are tangible or intangible objects of value promised by a borrower to a lender as a guarantee of repayment. ABF covers consumer financing (credit card debt, home mortgages and autoloans) and commercial finance (equipment rentals for businesses) as well as hard assets such as aircraft leasing and green energy and contractual cash flows like intellectual property royalties.
Private credit investments are uniquely structured, with varying levels of risk and potential investor returns. Other types of private credit include: distressed debt, where the debt of companies facing bankruptcy or insolvency is purchased at a discounted rate with the intent of restructuring the business or liquidating assets; infrastructure debt, which provides financing for infrastructural projects in energy and utilities; and real estate private debt such as construction loans that fund real estate projects.
The rate of risk and return in private credit investments is influenced by a number of factors. These include the credit-worthiness of a borrower (such as their financial health and ability to meet loan obligations); seniority (pertaining to the order of priority in which a debt must be repaid) and the interest earned (which depends on a floating rate). Most private credit deals are rated by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations.
Private credit is different from private equity, though both often work synergistically. While private equity firms buy stocks, or ownership stakes, in companies–usually with a controlling interest in restructuring and eventually selling these for a profit–private credit firms operate in the background by lending the funds needed for private equity firms to meet their goals.
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Why Private Credit Looks Good on Paper: Opportunities and Upsides
Private credit arrangements offer flexible, tailor-made financing solutions. They are highly accessible sources of funding for non-investment grade corporations, firms that don’t qualify for traditional loans and businesses in need of specialized lending. The advantages? Less regulatory burdens and greater certainty, efficiency and speed in executing deals.
Most significantly, private credit investments offer potentially higher yields than traditional fixed income assets–having historically delivered strong returns across varied market conditions with less volatility than equities. As an asset class, private credit has generated comparatively higher returns than others over the last decade.
Private credit also offers multiple levels of protection for investors in various ways. Deals allow for better portfolio diversification thanks to low exposure to public markets. Loan contracts are customized to meet the needs of both the borrower and the lender, while offering protective conditions that favor lenders in the form of covenants.
An illiquidity premium (basically, a high interest rate favorable to investors) sets incremental returns, while loans are secured by collateral–providing lenders with an additional safeguard against potential downsides. Many private credit deals are also senior secured loans, also known as senior debts, which means that lenders get paid first in case anything goes wrong.
The Reality of Private Credit: Dangers, Downsides and Risks
While private credit levels the playing field for underdogs to access much-needed funding–benefiting firms deemed too risky for banks or too small for public bond markets, critics point out that its growth poses potentially destabilizing risks to financial stability as capital shifts from banks and public markets to private funds.
Experts also say that the lack of regulatory oversight and transparency in the sector exposes investors to potential legal and regulatory issues. In its Global Financial Stability Report, the International Monetary Fund notes that the migration of credit from national banks and more transparent public markets to opaque private credit instruments could potentially lead to systemic vulnerabilities.
Like any investment, private credit comes with its share of risks–such as the default risk of borrowers failing to meet the terms of their loan contracts, as well as market and cyclical risks that may impact a borrower’s ability to repay their debt obligations. Since private credit often involves lending to non-public companies, the lack of transparency makes it challenging to perform thorough risk assessments. Lenders are obliged to do their own research and due diligence before participating in deals.
Although investor earnings benefit from an illiquidity premium, the long lock-in period for funds (typically between 5-10 years) makes private credit investments more difficult to sell off in times of need. Floating rates also pose risks to income if interest rates fall, but the potential of high yields is what consistently makes it an attractive bet for investors.
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The Future of Private Credit
The global recovery of mergers and acquisitions after a 10-year low has renewed momentum in dealmaking, which is accelerating the growth of private credit funding. Opportunities in private credit investments revolve around asset-based financing and the provision of hybrid capital needed by growth companies.
As a market historically limited to institutional investors such as accredited pension funds, family offices, insurance companies and high-net-worth individuals, private credit is becoming more democratized and accessible to smaller players thanks to its booming popularity. The emergence of publicly accessible vehicles such Exchange Traded Funds and Business Development Companies is making it possible for retail investors to join the bandwagon and cash in on private credit investments.
The fact is that private credit isn’t just a niche anymore. Asset management heavyweights such as Blackstone, Ares, Apollo and KRR have built massive private credit arms–raising billions in capital and deploying loans across Europe, Asia and emerging markets.
Even traditional banks, typically viewed in contention with private credit, are riding the direct lending wave. Synthetic Risk Transfers (SRTs) allow banks to retain loan assets but offload the risks to the private credit sector–a controversial trend currently overlooked by regulators that experts warn may lead to another financial crisis down the line.
While it’s highly unlikely that private credit will replace traditional finance, the private credit market is expected to expand rapidly over the coming years as bank lending remains constrained and borrowers seek alternatives in a challenging global economic climate.
Technology is also expected to play a more prominent role in the private credit ecosystem by boosting scale and performance. AI, automation and machine learning algorithms can help improve underwriting decisions, optimize fundraising efforts and support efficient portfolio monitoring across a wide range of private credit assets.
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The Bottom Line
Credit is an integral component of the global economy–greasing the wheels of financial markets and accounting for US$13 trillion of global fixed income assets such as bonds and treasury bills.
From homes financed by mortgages, car loans and credit card debt to digital subscriptions for music and entertainment-related content–private credit (in the form of asset-based finance) impacts where we live, how we live and the things we live for. In this day and age, it is almost impossible for the world as we know it to function without it.
Financial experts believe that private credit benefits economic activity and innovation by stimulating growth and investment opportunities where traditional financing falls short. Lower volatility, higher yields and risk-adjusted returns in direct lending make it a resilient investment in a turbulent economy, with steady returns over the last decade topping global equities and publicly traded loans.
The rise of private credit isn’t just a passing trend in the world of finance and investment. It’s a structural shift that’s quietly yet firmly redefining global capital flows–creating new income opportunities for investors seeking yield, diversification and a competitive edge amid shifting and uncertain market conditions. Private credit is becoming a viable financing option that is most likely here to stay.
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