The Julia La Roche Show · Oct 31, 2026 · 35m · 27m saved
With Chris Whalen, Chairman of Whalen Global Advisors and author of The Institutional Risk Analyst
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has backed off policing the private credit ratings that insurers use, after the industry threatened to sue, Chris Whalen, Chairman of Whalen Global Advisors, told The Julia La Roche Show.
A regulator is supposed to stand between policyholders and the companies that sell them annuities. Chris said private-credit firms such as Apollo and Brookfield now own large insurers that depend on favorable private ratings to lower their capital costs, and that no one reviews those ratings or assets until an insurer actually fails.
"If you have life insurance or if you have an annuity that's issued by one of these companies, there's nobody looking out for you." — Chris Whalen
Chris once worked at Kroll, one of the agencies that issues these private ratings, and he publishes The Institutional Risk Analyst. He joins Julia La Roche each week for the show's segment The Wrap, and this week he also brought a scoop on United Wholesale Mortgage.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 35 minutes of audio, 8 minutes of reading.
Here are the 10 calls that matter.
Key Takeaways
Kevin Warsh's inaction is starting to erode his credibility, and a symbolic quarter-point cut would have helped
Big tech will be forced to issue stock after trying to fund the AI buildout almost entirely with debt
"Probably half of the data centers that are currently planned can't happen"
Insurance regulators retreated from private credit ratings once the industry threatened to sue
Chris expects federal regulation of insurance to police the worst of private credit
Mortgage delinquencies will rise, most of all in government-backed loans
Chase bought a big chunk of conventional servicing from United Wholesale Mortgage, Chris reported
Diesel is up 25% from a year ago, a sign that war-driven inflation has not finished working through the economy
1. Warsh Should Have Cut
Chris opened The Wrap on the Federal Open Market Committee's 10-2 vote to hold rates. He thinks Fed Chair Kevin Warsh should have moved anyway.
Chris says a small cut this month would have been the right signal
"War[sh] should have acted this month, even in a symbolic way. A quarter of a point on Fed funds would be a good thing." — Chris Whalen
Warsh has also talked about reforming the gap between Fed funds and repo rates and what the Fed pays banks on their reserves, without acting on it. Chris thinks the waiting has a cost.
Chris says the Fed chair is losing credibility by not acting
"His lack of action, I think, is starting to erode his credibility." — Chris Whalen
