At a meeting of the Financial Stability Oversight Council this month, Trump administration officials moved ahead with plans to scale back scrutiny of hedge funds, encouraged financial firms to experiment with artificial intelligence and lamented the burden of onerous regulation.

What wasn’t discussed during the public session was the segment of the financial system that has Washington and Wall Street most on edge: private credit. The once-booming corner of lending markets has been showing signs of shakiness recently, raising alarm that a broader set of investors could soon be exposed to a new financial risk just as President Trump accelerates a push to loosen regulations across the financial sector.

Those concerns came to a head on Monday. The Department of Labor released a proposed rule long awaited by fund managers, lobbyists and lawmakers that would allow alternative assets such as private credit investments to be included in the retirement accounts of Americans across the country.

The proposal is the product of Mr. Trump’s executive order last year that called for the inclusion of “alternative assets” in 401(k) plans, potentially boosting the returns for ordinary investors.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the proposal was intended to broaden “access to additional retirement plan options for millions of Americans while being mindful of the importance of protecting retirement assets.”

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