Melbourne’s Oak Capital, a non-bank lender which specialises in real estate financing, is being probed over the way it collects fees as the corporate regulator increases its surveillance and scrutiny of the booming private capital market.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission last month said it would put together a dedicated team to investigate conflicts of interest and determine how firms value the assets they have lent against. At the time, chairman Joe Longo said he was also concerned that investors in private credit funds may not be adequately protected.