Barclays seeks insurer protection on more than $10bn of AI infrastructure debt, people familiar say

Barclays is sounding out insurers about credit risk cover for more than $10bn of debt it has provided to finance artificial intelligence infrastructure, Insurance Journal reported on 29 October, citing people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named. The bank has tested insurer appetite over recent weeks. No decision on the size or timing of a deal has been made, and Barclays declined to comment.

According to one of the people, Barclays wants insurers to cover more than 50% of the credit risk on some of its AI-linked facilities. The aim is to free capacity so the bank can keep lending as funding needs of the large cloud and AI companies grow. The report does not name the borrowers or any insurer.

Banks commonly share loan losses through credit risk insurance, derivatives, loan sales and significant risk transfer deals, which can also release regulatory capital. The report suggests capacity may be tight: a Willis Towers Watson survey from May 2026 found that some non-trade credit insurers were near or at their sector limits for data centre exposure. It also cites a McKinsey projection of $6.7tn of global data centre spending by 2030.