Bank of America (BofA) has said it is committing $25bn (£18.6bn) to private credit loans and has named Anand Melvani as head of private credit.
BofA joins a raft of other US banks looking to tap into an increasingly popular asset class.
“This commitment further strengthens our ability to meet the evolving needs of our corporate and private equity clients and to drive strong returns for our shareholders,” Bruce Thompson, vice-chair and head of enterprise credit at BofA, said in a memo sent to staff, reported by the Financial Times.
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Melvani has been appointed as head of private credit within the bank’s global capital markets unit and will also continue in his role as head of Americas leveraged finance, according to reports.
Additionally, BofA named Scott Wiate as head of private credit, structuring and underwriting, reporting into Thompson, another memo sent internally revealed.
Thompson leads a global team responsible for delivering end-to-end credit solutions for the company’s eight lines of business, according to the BofA website.
BofA’s move into the private space comes after Goldman Sachs launched a new division last year, the Capital Solutions Group, to capitalise on the private credit boom.
Meanwhile, some banks have gone down the route of partnerships to gain private credit market share, such as Citigroup’s tie-up with Apollo and Wells Fargo with Centerbridge Partners.
Recent analysis by Moody’s Ratings revealed that US banks lent nearly $300bn to private credit providers as of June 2025, with overall lending to non-depository financial institutions reaching $1.2tn.
It said the shift to private credit reflected the adoption of new strategies by US banks in response to changing market conditions.
