Private credit has Jamie Dimon worried about the next financial crisis. But the biggest swath of this hot market is less risky than some believe

In mid July, Jamie Dimon cautioned that the explosion in private credit could trigger the next financial crisis. The JPMorgan CEO and America’s most respected banker cited the wild lending sprees two decades ago where the likes of Lehman Bros. and Bear Stearns funded highly indebted weaklings, a misadventure that sank those firms and ignited the Global Financial Crisis. Dimon’s comments followed earlier his warnings in May that “I think credit risk is bad,” noting that the surge in non-bank lending...