NY Times had an interesting piece today: "A `Shadow' Lending Market in the U.S., Funded by Insurance Premiums"

Snippets:
"Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, has raised concerns about the rise of private lending since the 2008 financial crisis. In July, he told investors that banks couldn't compete as well with private equity firms because banks were forced to hold much more capital against what they planned to lend.
"

" The market for private lending was around $1.75 trillion in 2022, compared with roughly $500 billion in 2012, according to PitchBook, which tracks private markets. PitchBook expects that figure to rise by roughly $200 billion this year. In the past year, about a fifth of the money raised by the seven largest publicly traded private equity firms, including Carlyle, KKR and Blackstone, has come from the insurance industry, according to PitchBook data."

" Insurance has become one of the most enticing areas to private equity firms because insurers accumulate premiums paid by ordinary Americans. That creates a continuous source of funds compared with the firms' traditional route of raising money every few years from pensions and endowments. The premiums need to be invested so that insurers can earn a return beyond what they'll pay policyholders."

" Warren E. Buffett built Berkshire Hathaway on that insight: investing the difference between the premiums that the conglomerate's insurance companies collect and what they pay out every year - the source of billions of dollars of what he calls "float." Mr. Rowan, who moved Apollo into insurance and helped pioneer the concept for the private equity business, has noted that Apollo and Athene use elements of the Berkshire model."

Of course, because this is the BRK board, it is required to include comments on BAM
"The Canadian investment firm Brookfield Asset Management, which had a minimal presence in insurance three years ago, has since struck deals to manage about $100 billion in insurance assets. In its recent investor day presentation, Brookfield said it planned to add another $250 billion in insurance assets in the next five years and eventually reach $1 trillion."
"

If the sea on which BRK floats gets stormy (:-> two possibilities come to mind
(1) a fundamental change in the fundamentals of BRK's business model will have a fundamental effect on BRK
(2) BRK will thrive, it'll be a huge battle ship scooping up foundering vessels