CSR Trust Board Meeting 5.19.26

Selected WSJ Headlines Concerning Private Credit

Today, the Railway Board posted the video of their May 19, 2026, meeting. It is an hour and a half long. The link is here: https://archive.org/details/5-19-26-csr-trust-board

The agenda is posted above. Both the city’s presentation and the financial advisors’ presentation are worthwhile. However, the presentation from Apollo Private Credit, one of the Board’s newer financial advisors working with their primary advisor, UBS, is the more important .

Private Credit is getting a lot of attention lately in the investment world and my assessment is that the Board may need an independent advisor on the risks of private credit investing.

As it now stands, UBS is recommending (i.e. selling) the Board on investing in private credit but at the same time, the Board must also rely on UBS to advise them on the risks involved in the private credit market. Investing in private credit is a lot different than investing in stocks and bonds, for example.

You do not have to be a financial genius to figure out that the ‘private credit’ sector of the investment world is generating a lot of news. I did a search on the Wall Street Journal’s digital site for “private credit,” and got back 19 articles for the month of May alone. That equates to one report a day for every work day in the month of May.

I have posted the WSJ list below. It also reveals the various issues present with private credit investing. (AI helped me sort the articles )

Nothing against the Board but can we really rely on the Board to understand the various angles involved in private credit investing. I think that would be unreasonable.

That is why we are working on a recommendation for the Board that they seek an independent assessment of the risks involved in private credit investing. The returns are potentially higher, but the risks are definitely higher. The Board is doing fine increasing the Trust Fund’s principal. It is up to $1.9 Billion. So, why do we need to put the Trusts’ money into risky investments?

Which brings up the second issue: The addition of Apollo Private Credit likely increases, possibly substantially, the fees paid to the team of advisors that have been assembled by UBS.

However, I can’t say that for certain. Unfortunately, in its quarterly reports to the Board, information about the dollar fees that UBS and its team of advisors are charging the Trust Fund, is not reported. We are gong to work on that.