>, by why would the term private credit bring to mind anything to do with retail specifically?

If a layman is unfamiliar that "private credit" is about business debts, and therefore only has intuition via previous exposure to "private X" to guess what it might mean, it's not unreasonable to assume it's about consumer loans.

"private insurance" can be about retail consumer purchased health insurance outside of employer-sponsored group health plans

"private banking" is retail banking (for UHNW individuals)

But "private credit" ... doesn't fit the pattern above because "private" is an overloaded word.

> But "private credit" ... doesn't fit the pattern above because "private" is an overloaded word

Makes sense. Thanks. Private here is as in private versus public companies.

In other words, "private credit" is private the way "private equity" is private, not how "private insurance" is private.