Despite recent difficulties, PwC’s new Global Private Credit Fund Survey shows that the global private credit fund industry is projected to reach $3.4 trillion globally by 2030, with two-thirds citing greater competition as primarily impacting performance.

While private credit has faced a difficult year, the private credit fund industry is projected to grow from $2 trillion in assets under management (AuM) to $3.4 trillion by 2030, according to a new PwC Global Private Credit Fund Survey, released this week.

The PwC Global Private Credit Fund Survey 2026 captures insights from more than 120 credit portfolio managers in the US, the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. It was conducted between January and March 2026. Respondents, who represent a range of investment strategies and AuM, provided both quantitative responses and qualitative commentary to 15 questions.

The report finds that even as the industry faces increased economic headwinds, rising competition, compliance costs and fee compression, more than 80 per cent of those surveyed expect to receive increased allocations over the next 12 months.

This comes as two-thirds (67 per cent) cite greater competition as the primary driver impacting fund performance for 2026, followed by credit defaults and losses (64 per cent).

“While private credit has faced a challenging year, our survey finds that the industry remains resilient and will continue to grow,” Mat Falconer, global financial services leader, PwC, said. “That said, the gap between the best private credit portfolio managers and the rest will increase. Winning managers will be those who can demonstrate they have better underwriting, portfolio management, and restructuring capabilities to help deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns through a cycle. In exchange, they will gain investor confidence, setting themselves up for continued strong fundraising and long-term success.”

While the industry has faced increased economic headwinds this year, the survey finds that 81 per cent of credit portfolio managers expect to receive increased allocations over the next 12 months, with 44 per cent expecting this to increase by more than 20 per cent.

This comes as more than half of the credit portfolio managers surveyed said they are not concerned at all – or only slightly concerned – about an increase in defaults over the next one to two years.

Less than one-fifth said they are concerned or very concerned about an increase in defaults. Managers expect stress to be acute over the next one to two years in the consumer and retail (56 per cent), automotive (42 per cent), hospitality and leisure (27 per cent), and technology (24 per cent) sectors.

At a time of flat or falling returns, credit fund managers are putting greater emphasis on investment selection, performance, governance, and downside protection. But as credit fund managers face rising compliance costs, fee compression, and the operational complexity of running multi-strategy platforms, the survey indicates growing (but uneven) adoption of  technology across private credit portfolios.

Just over half said they are more frequently implementing new technologies within their private credit investment process. At the same time, only 16 per cent of respondents view AI-enabled portfolio management (i.e., monitoring), as a current priority, even as more than half said they are most likely to use AI in the underwriting process.

A number of firms such as California-headquartered investment manager Franklin Templeton see attractive opportunities globally within private markets in 2026. Hamilton Lane, a US private markets investment firm with $1.0 trillion in assets under management and supervision, also expects private markets to outperform public ones over the next few years, with infrastructure playing an important role. While private credit has hit turbulence recently, CEOs at two asset management houses â€“ Arcmont Asset Management and Churchill Asset Management, part of the broader Nuveen Private Capital strategy Journal of Financial Planning, and the author, Emma Foulkes – are scornful of what they see as an unfair critique of private credit. In some ways, they argue that critics are getting matters entirely wrong. As a result, investors have been “spooked.” See more here, here and here,