This is Part Four of an exercise looking at how the ownership structure of major US assets has changed over the years. Part One (Equities). Part Two (Debt). Part Three (UST).

Source: Z1 Flow of Funds, US Federal Reserve

• The largest holders of US corporate debt are foreign entities at 28.6% of all holdings. That’s up from less than 1% in the late 1940s.
• The second largest holders are insurance companies at 25%. Even though their holdings have gone down from 44% in the 1940s, when they were also the largest holder by far, insurance companies seem to continue to play a dominant role in the US corporate debt market unlike so in equities or UST.
• Mutual funds and pension funds come after at 18.6% and 10.8% respectively. Their roles have diverged since the mid-1980s with mutual funds relatively increasing, while pension funds relatively decreasing their holdings of US corporate debt.
• Households were the second largest holder of US corporate debt in the 1940s at 31%. Today they are one of the smaller holders at 6.7%.

Source: Z1 Flow of Funds, US Federal Reserve