U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs ranking member raises private credit deregulation concerns in letter to Treasury and SEC

Senator Elizabeth Warren, ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins arguing that the Trump Administration's deregulatory approach has intensified risks in the private credit market. The letter says those risks are increasing the financial system's vulnerability and threatening Americans' retirement plans. In the letter, Warren pointed to Atkins' recent acknowledgement of "emerging pressures" in private credit after he had described the market last month as "not a systemic risk," and to reports that Bessent is now holding monitoring meetings after what she called a year of minimal engagement. She also wrote that in July 2025 she asked Bessent, as chair of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, to research private credit market interconnectedness and develop a stress test similar to those used in other countries, but that he did not do so. The letter further argues that the SEC, working with the Department of Labor, is seeking to open Americans' 401(k)s to private credit. Warren requested responses by May 26, 2026.