Kroll and StepStone Group Launch Payment-in-Kind Indicators for Private Credit Benchmarks
Kroll and StepStone Group (Nasdaq: STEP) have introduced three new payment-in-kind (PIK) indicators within the Kroll StepStone Private Credit Benchmarks. These metrics are designed to provide investors, lenders, and analysts with enhanced visibility into noncash interest usage across more than 28,000 direct lending instruments in the U.S. and Europe. The new indicators track PIK as a percentage of interest income, deal count proportions, and outstanding principal proportions. Data reveals that global PIK use is currently moderating; for loans originated globally over the last 12 months, PIK represented 2.86% of interest income as of October 10, 2026, compared to a higher 6.67% across the total outstanding loan cohort at the end of Q2 2026. This expansion of the Benchmarks, which launched in September 2025, offers historical data dating back to 2012. The tools aim to help market participants distinguish between cash interest and debt-added interest to better assess liquidity, leverage, and credit quality within increasingly complex private markets.
Tickers: $STEP
Topics: Financial Benchmarks Market Data PIK Loans Private Credit