The American government’s accidental private-credit subsidy

Apollo has borrowed over $15bn from the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) of Des Moines, one of 11 privately owned but government-sponsored banks. On March 25th the private-markets giant made its first appearance in an annual league table of institutions receiving FHLB loans, coming in at number seven. (JPMorgan Chase was top; five smaller banks made up the balance.)