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Financial Regulation

Private credit strains surface as an Australian fund freezes redemptions

Metrics Credit Partners stopped investors accessing some funds as the prudential regulator warned of heightened risk.

Assembled by Claude from 12 sources at 9 outlets · Wednesday, September 30, 2026, Morning edition, 10:24 AM EDT · no human byline

Disclosure. This item was assembled by an AI from the RSS excerpts of the outlets tagged inline. No human wrote or checked it before publication. Feed selection and categories are editorial choices by Teresa Lo. Nothing here is investment advice.

What happened

Metrics Credit Partners, one of Australia's biggest private credit firms, froze some fund redemptions in what Reuters called a sign of private credit market stress reuters.com. The firm stopped investors from accessing some funds in a move similar to steps taken elsewhere in the industry finance.yahoo.com. The Australian Financial Review described Metrics as a private credit business of about $40 billion that has had a long month, and noted the funds are geared, albeit modestly afr.com.

The regulator moved in parallel. Australia's prudential regulator has warned of heightened risks in the nation's $4.5 trillion retirement pot as cracks emerge in private credit, and is eyeing strict new investment limits for super trustees theaustralian.com.au. Coverage placed the freeze in the context of a $1.8 trillion industry finance.yahoo.com.

Why it matters to investors

The picture across the sector is uneven. Investors in a Goldman Sachs private credit fund tried to withdraw 2.03% of their money in the third quarter, and the fund avoided a redemptions cap again as requests fell bloomberg.com. Its inflows were 2.1 times estimated repurchase requests, and the fund will fulfil all withdrawal requests finance.yahoo.com.

That is the exception rather than the rule. Withdrawal requests at the biggest non-traded private credit funds have ranged from 10% to over 16% of shares in third-quarter tender offers galvnews.com. The AFR argued that easy money had made private credit look safer than it was, pointing after the Bathla collapse to higher-risk property development lending, and said investors need to educate themselves on the risks afr.com.

Bloomberg reported that the Goldman fund avoided the cap because redemption requests fell bloomberg.com. The Financial Review's own account of Metrics stressed that the private credit empire is more complicated than investors may assume afr.com.

What to watch

Regulators on both sides of the Pacific are moving at once. The Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing new proposals on retail investor access to private assets reuters.comkfgo.com. The proposals cover private credit, real estate and venture capital, which can potentially deliver higher returns than traditional stock and bond portfolios, though critics object kfgo.comheraldonline.com.

In Australia, ASIC has its own private credit crackdown under way investmentmagazine.com.au. Allocators are separately rethinking broad market exposure amid growing concentration risk investmentmagazine.com.au. The test is whether redemption gates stay confined to the Australian funds, or spread as the SEC opens the asset class further to retail money reuters.comtheaustralian.com.aureuters.com.

Sources

  1. reuters.com: Australia's Metrics freezes some fund redemptions in sign of private credit market stress (2026-09-30)
  2. theaustralian.com.au: 'Heightened risk ': APRA warning on private credit | The Australian (2026-09-30)
  3. finance.yahoo.com: Australian Private Credit Giant Halts Withdrawals as Concerns Grow in $1.8 Trillion Industry (2026-09-30)
  4. afr.com: The Metrics private credit empire is more complicated than you think - AFR (2026-09-30)
  5. afr.com: Bathla collapse: Easy money made private credit look safer than it was - AFR (2026-09-30)
  6. finance.yahoo.com: Goldman Sachs Private Credit Fund Reports Around 2% Q3 Repurchase Rate (2026-09-30)
  7. galvnews.com: Goldman private credit fund defies industry elevated withdrawal trend again yet again (2026-09-30)
  8. bloomberg.com: Goldman Private Credit Fund Avoids Redemptions Cap Again - Bloomberg.com (2026-09-30)
  9. reuters.com: Wall St regulator to unveil new retail investor proposals for private assets | Reuters (2026-09-30)
  10. kfgo.com: Wall St regulator to unveil new retail investor proposals for private assets - KFGO (2026-09-30)
  11. heraldonline.com: Wall St regulator to unveil new retail investor proposals for private assets | Rock Hill Herald (2026-09-30)
  12. investmentmagazine.com.au: Allocators rethink broad market exposure amid growing concentration risk : bfinance (2026-09-30)