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The EconomistThe EconomistSkip to content * Menu * Weekly edition * The world in brief * Search Subscribe Log in * OPINION * Leaders * Letters to the editor * By Invitation * CURRENT TOPICS * Israel and Hamas * War in Ukraine * US elections 2024 * The World Ahead 2024 * Climate change * Coronavirus * The world economy * The Economist explains * Artificial intelligence * CURRENT TOPICS * Israel and Hamas * War in Ukraine * US elections 2024 * The World Ahead 2024 * Climate change * Coronavirus * The world economy * The Economist explains * Artificial intelligence * WORLD * The world this week * China * United States * Europe * Britain * Middle East & Africa * Asia * The Americas * International * A-Z of international relations * A-Z of military terms * IN DEPTH * Science & technology * Graphic detail * Special reports * Technology Quarterly * Briefing * Essay * Schools brief * BUSINESS & ECONOMICS * Finance & economics * Business * Big Mac index * A-Z of economics * Economic & financial indicators * CULTURE & SOCIETY * 1843 magazine * Culture * Obituary * The Economist reads * Christmas Specials * MORE * Podcasts * Newsletters * Films * The Economist app * Subscriber events * Economist Education courses * Group subscriptions INCLUDED IN YOUR SUBSCRIPTION * Podcasts * Newsletters * Films * Live virtual events * The Economist app * My Economist * Saved stories * Log out * Saved stories * Account * Log out Search Search Finance and economics | Going for broke WALL STREET TITANS ARE BETTING BIG ON INSURERS. WHAT COULD GO WRONG? HOW PRIVATE-MARKETS GIANTS ARE OVERHAULING THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM image: George Wylesol Jan 23rd 2024 Share Blackstone listed on the New York Stock Exchange during the summer of 2007. Doing so just before the global financial crisis was hardly auspicious, and come early 2009 the firm’s shares had lost almost 90% of their value. By the time the two other members of America’s private-markets troika rang the bell, Wall Street had been battered. KKR listed on July 15th 2010, the same day Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act, overhauling bank regulation. Apollo followed eight months later. Each firm told investors a similar story: private equity, the business of buying companies with debt, was their speciality. But as the economy recovered, private-markets firms flourished—emerging as the new kings of Wall Street. The biggest put more and more money into credit, infrastructure and property. By 2022 total assets under management had reached $12trn. Those at Apollo, Blackstone and KKR have risen from $420bn to $2.2trn over the past decade. Thanks to the firms’ diversification, their shares rose by 67% on average during 2023, even as higher interest rates caused buy-outs to grind to a halt. Although private equity has plenty of critics, the model of raising and investing funds—whether to buy firms or lend to them—seldom worries regulators. If things go wrong, losses are shouldered by a fund’s institutional investors and humiliated fund managers struggle to raise money again. There is little threat to financial stability. ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT? 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