Report: Global nonbank sector surged in 2024

• Key insight: The Financial Stability Board report found that nonbank assets rose 9.4% in 2024, double the growth of the banking sector.
• Supporting data: Assets held by nonbank financial institutions accounted for 51% of total global financial assets, or $256.8 trillion.
• What’s at stake: As nonbank entities grow in importance, U.S. regulators have said they are seeking opportunities to bring them into the bank regulatory system.

The presence of nonbank financial institutions on the global stage grew notably in 2024, according to a report released Tuesday morning by the Basel, Switzerland-based Financial Stability Board.

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The report — which examined trends in what it terms the nonbank financial intermediation, or NBFI, sector — found that nonbank assets increased 9.4% last year, double the growth of the banking sector, which rose 4.7%. Assets held by nonbank financial institutions accounted for 51% of total global financial assets, or $256.8 trillion.

All major nonbank subsectors expanded in 2024, including money market funds, hedge funds, trust companies and structured finance vehicles, the report said.

The Financial Stability Board is a forum established by the G20 in 2009 and is tasked with identifying global risks to financial stability and coordinating regulatory responses to those threats. The board is chaired by Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England; former Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Randal Quarles chaired the board during President Trump’s first term.

This year’s annual report found that the portion of the nonbank sector that behaves most like banks — that is, performing lending and capital formation roles — grew 12% in 2024, to $76.3 trillion.

“Nonbank financial institutions have become an increasingly important part of the global financial system, both as providers of credit to the real economy and as key participants in capital and funding markets,” the report said. “As their size and market presence have grown, so too have their interconnections with banks and the NBFI sector, broadening the channels through which shocks can propagate across sectors and jurisdictions.”

The report also noted “severe limitations” in available data on private lending, saying that monitoring the potential impact of these organizations on financial stability will be a focus in the year ahead.

U.S. bank regulators have been expressing increasing concern with the growing regulatory divide between banks and their nonbank peers, with Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency officials offering ideas for bringing nonbank firms into the regulatory fold. 

Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould in early November defended allowing compliant fintech firms to obtain national trust charters, saying it is “the only way” to level the playing field between banks and challenger fintechs.

“I have no ability to supervise or regulate nonbanks,” Gould said. “The only way I can possibly ensure a level playing field is for those who voluntarily come into the system. If they meet our statutory standards and our supervisory expectations, that’s literally the condition preceding before I can even attempt to put them on a level playing field.”

Fed Governor Christopher Waller, chair of the central bank’s Committee on Payments, Clearing and Settlement, also this fall floated the idea of creating a “skinny” master account focused on payments for certain state-chartered banks or fintechs, allowing those firms access to the Fed’s payment system without other features of a full master account, like access to the Fed’s discount window.

“There are many eligible firms engaged in substantial payments activities that may not want or need all the bells and whistles of a master account, or access to the full suite of Federal Reserve financial services, to successfully innovate and provide services to their customers,” Waller said. “The idea is to tailor the services of these new accounts to the needs of these firms and the risks they present to the Federal Reserve banks and the payment system. “Regarding the timeline, Waller said that he expects a final rule to be issued on the new accounts by the end of next year.