Well, I’m back! No one seemed to notice the stand-in author for the last update, but I must thank Emma for a great job. I believe it’s important for you all as members to hear the real voice of my great leadership team so be prepared to see these guest hosts a couple of times a year – probably when I am on the road seeing you in person!
April has been amazing. While I very much dislike the move to BST especially when I have arranged an 8am golf match it is just such a different perspective waking up to daylight and soaking in all the Vitamin D – wait that comes from the sun and given the UK weather let’s scratch that last bit.
Chez McMunn, we have a bit of a family tradition whereby the wife and I hide Easter eggs in the garden and set time limit for the clan to find their eggs. It’s safe to say the novelty may have slightly worn off (for the boys) but they still can’t say no to chocolate. I am truly running out of hiding places and suspect with this year’s attitude we may very much be seeing the last year. I am sure you can see the plethora of great spots in this pic – see if you can spot the egg!
It seemed very quiet for me on the email and meeting front, so I presume many of you were able to enjoy an Easter break – well deserved.
I say well deserved as our markets have seen continued external pressures. Most visible is of course the continuing conflict in the Middle East, and with those secondary impacts on inflation, rates, and business confidence. Additionally, you will no doubt have seen the continued flood of headlines covering technology and tech-related credits, private credit specifically relating to certain semi-liquid vehicles, and the perception of increased reach from our regulatory and supervisory bodies.
But despite this, markets are resilient. The most visible form for us, namely the leveraged loan market, continues to trade well, new monies are being raised to invest, and new issues are well received. Of course, some of this is technical but it does show the maturity, depth, and backing of these markets.
LMA Governance
Please don’t skim by the “governance” section!
We will be launching shortly the timelines for the 2026 AGM, and within that the process for the LMA Board and new Directors. This will be supported by a new Nominations Committee but essentially, I am incredibly passionate about ensuring the Board consists of the right firms, persons, and region/product experience to reflect the broad members of the LMA. It will of course be an election and will be democratic with each full member having one vote. But I want to make sure this democracy is best served by presenting credible and quality candidates.
I welcome any questions you may have regarding this matter, and I am confident that as our communications progress over the coming months, your firm will evaluate whether they wish to contribute value to the loan markets and accordingly express its interest.
I am also pleased to announce the appointment of Charlotte Conlan as Independent Non‑Executive Director, reporting to the Board. This marks an important step as the Association continues to grow and evolve.
Events
April saw the delivery of our third new 2026 LMA event. I certainly don’t take the team for granted but as I look back there was a high bar for these first four months covering LMA Edge, Africa Summit with ICMA, and the Tokyo European Investor event. And boy did the team smash it.
I am just back from Japan and for a first event I would like to draw out a few observations. Reflecting on the above comments, there is a growing interest in European credit driven by factors such as diversity, de-dollarisation, and overall value. The event attracted more than 300 participants, with 16 of our credit managers presenting updates and market insights. This rapidly evolving investor base, acting at scale, is expected to provide additional technical support to enhance value.
Looking back, I no doubt underestimated the complexity of new events across new countries, time zones and local outsourcing, and then curating content and quality to give value to attendees, and of course many sponsors.
I need to touch on this. I am really precious on maintaining the LMA reputation for quality and brand so broadening a partnership proposition was not something to be taking lightly. We need to offer that same quality and return to our sponsors, and that in turn generates revenue which I will commit to investing in the business – hiring great practitioners, delivering quality events with superior content, improving our technology and your member experience, and increasing free education and training. We will not dilute our brand, but I am extremely grateful of this new cohort of LMA relationships who are supporting our business.
Over April, I was also delighted to speak at a loan market event held by Finastra, a private markets webinar hosted by SS&C, and provide a keynote at the African Capital Markets conference covering the African loan markets and path to continued growth. You will not be surprised the common denominator is around reduced friction, supporting standardisation, and ensuring capital flows – the role of the LMA. Please reach out to me if you would like me to support any of your events or your clients.
Looking ahead to May, you will see us in Germany, we have the first FutureLend 2026 in London, our new Fund Finance Conference, and our Nordic Loan Markets Training and Seminar conference. Another busy month but again this is great as we will see over 1000 of you in person.
Communications
I can’t talk about the events above without moving onto our LMA comms and marketing. You will have hopefully seen the soft transition in our branding as we move towards the 30th anniversary – business cards, insights, even email footers. It is exciting to see this and show that brand as reflecting today’s loan markets and the forward! Just like with our events, our communications team is again sometimes the unsung hero. There is so much happening right now. We’ve published reports on AI in Financial Markets, Africa Loan Markets, provided guidance on documentation and operations in the Middle East as well as Fund Finance Insights report on CFOs.
Our podcast channels are growing, and we’re collaborating with the Junior Board to release monthly podcasts—follow us on Spotify!
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We are building momentum across all channels, with LinkedIn, email, publications and regulatory updates driving increased engagement. But all under the purview of what is being read, consumed, and impacted.
This is all done with a team of two and to be able to bring the diversity of topic, channel, member interest, and even incoming day to day takes some doing. Again, we will be laser-focussed on ensuring we do not dilute the channels and what we do remains insightful, thought provoking, informative and best in class – however it is hard and we appreciate the competition for your time!
Technology & AI
April was a strong month for technology and innovation. We launched our new Innovation Seminar Series with a highly attended AI in Financial Services event, welcoming over 600 participants, alongside strong engagement across our Buy‑side Forum and Middle East Committee.
We also convened an FCA–LMA Innovation Roundtable, reinforcing the LMA’s role as a constructive voice with regulators, and published a new thought‑leadership paper, AI in Financial Markets, offering a practical perspective on AI adoption.
Our Technology and Innovation Committee, now representing over 40 firms, has launched focused working groups on AI, digital assets and loan market interoperability, ensuring we tackle both near-term opportunities and longer-term challenges collaboratively.
Looking ahead, momentum continues: in early June we’re hosting the Alan Turing Institute for a talk on AI Assurance in the Agentic Era and a forthcoming seminar on Digital Assets in the Loan Market.
Closing
I didn’t mention above but I have set some ambitious targets to see as many of you as I can in person through 2026. Great success in April but please reach out to me if you wish a call, a coffee, or even to bring the LMA over to showcase to your broader firm what we do and what we offer. Our success is only achieved with the engagement and input of our members.
The next few months will be incredibly busy for us as we approach the 30-year anniversary and before that our European Conference. Our regulatory and advocacy agenda is also heavy with several key consultations due.
Personally (and I say this next sentence with some trepidation) May has a lot going on covering university exams (not me!), the title run in for my favourite football team, and late stages on a few sporting competitions – so much to do and maybe even small matter of a house move. I look forward to telling you more next month but hopefully and even more enjoyable to see some of you in the flesh where we really see that relationships and personal connectivity matter.
Scott McMunn
CEO
Loan Market Association
