Rowan recalls that 25 years ago, the idea of levered loans trading seemed impossible because every loan was different.
“Twenty five years ago, the notion that levered loans would trade was a fantasy. How could they trade? Every loan was different.”
Rowan recalls that twenty-five years ago the idea of tradable levered loans seemed impossible due to lack of standardization.
“Twenty five years ago, the notion that levered loans would trade was a fantasy. How could they trade? Every loan was different. Every company was private. There were no benchmarks.”
Rowan argues one bank's decision to make a market transformed levered loans into a tradable asset class over 25 years.
“Twenty five years later, levered loans trade because this one bank made a market in it, and then other banks came and made a market in it.”