Why This Plumbing Was Built

Asset-intensive reinsurance and the quiet engine of capacity

Credit has migrated from banks to private platforms, and the centre of gravity has moved with it. Insurers, through asset-intensive reinsurance (AIR), are releasing capital and setting part of the marginal price of credit. It may look like alchemy, but the transmission is real and economy-wide. The same channel that supplies liquidity in calm periods ca…