Frank Danieli is Head of Global Credit Solutions at MA Financial Group, an ASX-listed alternative asset manager that oversees A$15 billion ($10 billion) across a broad range of private credit and lending strategies and A$179 billion ($125 billion) in a lending ecosystem platform. Frank began his career in restructurings, the self-described ‘dark side of credit’, and has used the lessons from special situations and distressed loans to build a performing credit platform across asset backed finance, direct asset lending and corporate private credit.

Our conversation discusses what global investors can learn from the model of private credit in Australia. We explore the evolution of private credit in Australia and why it developed differently from the sponsor-backed lending market in the U.S., the regulatory shift that pushed lending off bank balance sheets, the role of Australia’s pension system, and MA Financial’s strategy for building proprietary origination across the lending ecosystem.

We then turn to MA Financial’s investment process, including the separation of investment selection from portfolio management, red teams, war games, and rigorous stress testing. Along the way, Frank shares why sourcing – not fundraising – will define long-term winners, why private credit requires diversified balance sheets, and why portfolio management and risk management are the largest sources of alpha in the asset class.