FICC Focus Credit Crunch: Apollo’s Cortese on Credit Trading, IG Privates
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Aug 18, 2025 John Cortese, Head of Portfolio Management at Apollo, shares his extensive experience in navigating credit markets. He dives into the staggering $40 trillion private investment-grade segment and discusses the evolution of private credit. Cortese explains the advantages of scale in trading, liquidity challenges, and how non-bank lenders are reshaping financing. He also reflects on lessons from the early days of trading synthetics and the impact of technological changes on credit trading strategies.
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From NYMEX To Lehman Shaping A Trader
- John Cortese described starting at NYMEX and then joining Lehman's securitized products desk where synthetic CDOs and CDS were new.
- He credits mentors at Lehman for shaping his trading and risk culture that he later brought to Apollo.
Correlation Is The Hidden Risk Driver
- Cortese says trading synthetic tranches taught him to focus on correlation and tail risk across portfolios.
- That lesson informs how Apollo assesses hidden correlations when lending as senior creditors.
Scale And Breadth Of Apollo's Credit Platform
- Apollo's credit business runs roughly $650bn AUM across corporate and asset-backed finance with 500 investment professionals.
- The trading desk does about $180bn of credit trading annually across IG, HY, loans and CLOs.