Widows And Orphans 2.0: Barclays Maps Which Life Insurers Are Most Exposed To The AI Debt Binge, Says It's "Just The Start"

Almost exactly a year ago, we warned that insurers would be this generation's "widows and orphans."

Back then the argument was simple: private credit had quietly become about a third of US insurers' investments, and when the private credit bubble pops, it is the policyholders who end up holding the bag while the PE titans who built the machine keep the fees. Then the AI capex boom showed up looking for money, and the machine found its next customer. Two weeks ago, CoreWeave co-founder Brannin McBee told the Financial Times that he sees "unlimited" insurance capital available to fund the AI build-out, prompting this response from us:

Small On Average, Huge At The Edges