As asset-backed finance continues to move into the mainstream, the opportunity set is defined by where capital is most needed, where traditional markets fall short and where disciplined structuring can solve real world problems.
Looking ahead, four opportunity areas stand out. They sit at the intersection of scale, necessity and structural inefficiency.
Housing: A Global, Structural Capital Gap
Housing is the largest and most widespread opportunity for ABF heading into 2026. Not just US housing — global housing.
Across developed and emerging markets alike, years of underinvestment, rising rates and affordability pressures have created a structural shortage that governments and traditional capital markets have struggled to address. The problem is no longer cyclical. It’s systemic.
The opportunity lies in financing housing across the entire value chain, including construction, multifamily, single-family and rental units. It’s about efficiently putting capital to work where it increases affordability, access and supply.
That requires origination, creativity and patience. The capital doesn’t simply show up. But the addressable market is enormous, global and well understood. The stickiest points, where capital is scarce and solutions matter, are where durable returns and long-term incumbency are built.
Europe: Scale Disguised as Fragmentation
Europe remains one of the most underappreciated opportunities in asset-backed finance.
With a roughly $23 trillion economy1, Europe’s demand for capital is structural, not episodic. Legacy cleanup trades are fading, but they’re being replaced by infrastructure buildout, entrepreneurial growth and a growing need for new forms of consumer, equipment and asset-based financing across both the corporate and consumer landscapes.
Corporates are moving away from traditional captive models. Automakers and manufacturers need new ways to finance inventory and equipment. At the geographic periphery, countries like Poland are undergoing real economic transformation, creating lendable markets across logistics, industrial real estate and fleet leasing.
Competition is thinner. Market structures are less mature. Scale is achievable. For asset-backed investors willing to do the work, Europe is a core growth market.
A K-Shaped Economy: Rethinking Credit, Not Chasing Spreads
The K-shaped recovery continues to reshape how credit risk should be understood. At the top end of the economy, asset inflation has created borrowers who look increasingly strong on paper. The temptation is to lend exclusively there. But that path leads to compressed yields, higher leverage and potential vulnerability when conditions change.
Meanwhile, affordability pressures are reshaping consumer behavior, business models and demand patterns across sectors and geographies. This is a global phenomenon as well.
We continually evaluate how people spend, what they spend on, where subsidies flow and how long-term services and infrastructure are financed. That shows up in franchise finance, leasing, multifamily housing, municipal contracts and infrastructure-linked assets.
When almost anything can get financed, discipline becomes even more imperative.
Corporates With Assets: The Next Frontier
If there is largely uncharted territory for asset-backed finance in 2026, it is corporates with assets — both the assets they own and the assets they want their customers to own.
As companies move into larger-ticket products and more capital-intensive offerings, traditional captive finance models can break down. New customer bases, unfamiliar risks and the absence of established capital markets create friction.
That friction is the opportunity.
Asset-backed finance can provide capital-efficient, off-balance-sheet financing solutions, help build diversified financing platforms and support corporates as they scale globally. ABF provides a financing service that enables growth across jurisdictions, products and cycles.
For investors with scale, operational capability and underwriting discipline, corporates with assets represent one of the largest and most durable opportunity sets ahead.
