POWER PLAYERS: 12 bankers, investors, and lawyers driving the next big boom in the $1 trillion world of CLOs

• Collateralized loan obligations, or CLOs, are a nearly $1 trillion asset class.
• Dealmakers, traders, and investors told us how they made a career in CLOs.
• They explained how they were winning investors over to a space that has a fair share of critics.

Wonky. Tight-knit. And, insiders say, misunderstood.

Welcome to the obscure world of CLOs, or collateralized loan obligations, where low-rated loans for indebted companies are pooled into a bond and then sold to investors with varying degrees of risk.

From the cashed-up investors, to the folks who structure and manage these complex vehicles, to the professionals who advise them, Insider got to know some of the faces behind the initialism.

We talked to 12 industry executives about the CLO-issuance boom, the product’s evolution in recent years, and how they ended up finding a career in this corner of Wall Street.

You’ll find out more about the attorneys who advise bankers, managers, and investors on CLO deals; the bankers who underwrite, arrange, and trade CLOs; and the dealmakers who raise capital, manage, and invest in them.

Subscribers can read the full list here: Meet 12 bankers, investors, and lawyers helping engineer the next big boom in the $1 trillion world of CLOs