Dear Members,
We are now at the halfway mark of the year, just in time for the usual London heatwave where the British weather complaints reach the high levels of the year (or is it temperature).
Reflecting on the first half, I can’t help but draw attention to McMunn junior and his school sports day, held last week. Racing the 200m he was well excited having bombed out the gates for the first 100m and sitting comfortably in the lead. Alas the energy was not there to maintain this, and he dropped off, albeit still getting in the medal positions.
The LMA has also done so much already this year, and I assure you we won’t drop off and will continue to maintain our pace through the second half.
Our loan markets are showing incredible resilience despite the range of external events and the moving politics and economic performance. We are now close to Liberation Day plus 90 but loan markets and CLO markets seem to have shrugged these off. New issuance volumes are back on track, secondary trading and liquidity remains robust, and pricing is moving back to the points reached earlier in the year.
Secondary volumes are reaching new highs, although this positively demonstrates the resilience of our markets, it is also impacting secondary settlement times.
I will look to summarise our June activities below, but also want to say as we now hit summer, I trust you will all be able to get some time off and a refresh for the second half – maintaining your own pace and keeping in the medal positions!
There will be no update at the end of July as I am taking my own family break and travelling around Japan. You can stay up to date with the LMA through our LMA Connect.
On 24th September, we will host the LMA Annual AGM and Member Networking Drinks at the Café Royal in London. This is an important meeting for the LMA as it establishes the Board composition for the next 12 months.
If you would like to stand for the LMA Board we absolutely welcome your nomination. Details on the process and how to apply will be communicated with full members soon. Also please do not forget to vote.
All Full Members are eligible to vote for the Board nominations, and I urge you to take this responsibility seriously and with due consideration. All our members are welcome to register for the Member Networking Drinks. I will also look to present a go forward strategic update to attendees alongside the LMA Chair, Martin Luehrs.
June saw us hold our second European Loan Markets Conference, this year in Madrid. Under the theme of “mobilising the markets” we were able to host over 300 senior leaders from our members. While still a new event, it is pleasing to see how quickly this has become established and how many of you travelled to attend. Topics ranged from the future of European loan markets, defence spending and dependency on loan markets, the rise of real assets, and private credit. We were fortunate to also be able to host Rodrigo Buenaventura, Secretary General at IOSCO, to deliver a keynote speech emphasising the importance of our loan markets, and a shout out to the work of the LMA. If you have any thoughts about where to hold this event in 2026, please let us know.
It was also pleasing to see the turnout for our Fund Finance Evening Seminar with over 200 senior market participants in attendance. We covered best practises backed by case studies across both Subscription Facilities and NAV Lending with some incredible panellists. It was clear this area of finance is now fully adopted and growing, also witnessing innovation and increased capital flows. Thanks to speakers from the GP and LP community, who are now increasingly involved with our LMA work.
On the topic of markets, the LMA was also pleased to partner with Fitch Ratings on a webinar titled “What’s Ahead for Leveraged Loans?”. Covering both the loan and CLO markets, we heard from leading loan managers and CLO investors current insights and views on the go forward market.
We were also pleased to partner with the LSTA on a webinar on the hot topic of Loan Transferability Issues – with over 600 attendees and incredible engagement there will be a follow-up in July.
Kam Hessling also attended the TXF Global Export, Agency and Project Finance event and ICC Global Heads of Export Finance meeting, supporting our work in export, trade and commodity finance.
Looking ahead to July, we are rounding off the first half of the year with two key events before the summer slowdown. We will kick off the month with our Loan Operations Conference in London, covering an in-depth exploration of the challenges shaping loan operations.
Later in the month, we head to South Africa, where we will host our Loan Markets Conference, followed by a dedicated Sustainability Finance Seminar, where we will engage stakeholders in an open dialogue on how ESG considerations are influencing lending practices across the region.
Click on the below image to register for the upcoming conferences. Check the events page for more details.
I mentioned above the keynote speech from IOSCO which is important for the LMA to have a strong connect and engagement with the various regulatory bodies. I will be in Brussels in early July meeting not only some of the European supervisory bodies but also some of the key representatives of the EC Member States and the key European trade associations.
Securitisation continues to be key area of focus with the European Commission publishing framework proposals in mid-June. The LMA wrote to the Commission on the proposals, held a webinar with speakers from both Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft LLP and DG FISMA updating our members, and we will be continuing to engage on this matter over the coming months.
In relation to CRDVI, in particular Article 21c, we have been continuing to track implementation across member states. We also submitted a response at the end of May to the Dutch consultation in relation to the implementing legislation with regards to certain implementation issues.
Other areas of focus include technology, with the LMA joining the UK Digital Finance Taskforce. When established the LMA Technology Committee will support these efforts.
NBFIs also remain a hot topic, and we assure you the LMA is involved and well positioned in these conversations.
As always if you wish to be involved in our regulatory endeavours please reach out to Hannah (Hannah.Vanstone@lma.eu.com) or Evelien (Evelien.Alblas@lma.eu.com). Our regulatory book of work is available here.
London Climate Action Week kept the LMA team active on the sustainability front, with meaningful engagement alongside global delegations, particularly around our work on the transition finance agenda. We also published dedicated FAQs as an annex to the Guidelines for Sustainability-Linked Loan Financing Bonds, a joint initiative with ICMA. This collaboration reinforces our shared commitment to advancing sustainable finance practices across markets.
In addition, we supported the Environmental Defense Fund and the Methane Finance Working Group in the release of new guidance on incorporating methane abatement into oil and gas debt structuring, a timely and impactful contribution to climate-focused financial strategy. For more details please reach out to Gemma (Gemma.Lawrence-Pardew@lma.eu.com)
Eight new members have joined the LMA during June. Please join me in welcoming Nearwater Capital, Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, Development Bank of Namibia; and law firms Mourant, CLP Legal, Harold Benjamin Solicitors, Wallace LLP, and Abreu Advogados.
Thank you to everyone who has already updated their organisation’s contacts. If you haven’t yet responded, our team will be in touch with a reminder shortly. For any questions membership please reach out to Anne (Anne.Hogarth@lma.eu.com)
A little over a month ago, we added the LMA Financial Analysis Hub to the LMA Academy’s training resources. Exclusive to LMA members, the platform offers an extensive library of video training covering practical content tailored to real-world loan market scenarios. Whether you’re looking to deepen your financial analysis skills or build a stronger foundation, this hub is designed to support you at every stage of your professional journey.
241 of you have registered so far, watching over 3,000 training videos. If you haven’t checked it out yet, register for your account on the LMA Academy.
Staying connected with our members remains a top priority, and this quarter saw a flurry of activity on that front. We pushed back against recent headlines claiming the “End of ESG” with a piece that highlights the real progress being made, especially through Sustainability-Linked Loans, which continue to bring sustainability into the mainstream, even when formal labels are not used.
We also published the sixth edition of Horizons , which introduced fresh thinking and launched Political Pulse, our new, straight-talking take on what’s happening in Brussels, London, and across Europe’s sustainability policy space. This ties in well with our growing focus on regulation and keeping members ahead of the curve.
We shared a report from our recent Nordic mission, capturing regional insights and testing how well those findings resonate across our broader membership.
In collaboration with FIS, we published a blog on the future of loan servicing to share insights on where the true competitive edge lies in today’s commercial lending environment.
We did a podcast with heads of Fund Finance on the regulatory landscape, on our work on fund finance with Walkers, and Global, Sustainable Finance with Al Tamimi. Explore our channel.
Lastly, I contributed a chapter to the ICLG’s Lending and Secured Finance 2025 publication, reflecting on the progress we have made to date and what lies ahead on the horizon.
Next is time for the Challenging the Timeline newsletter which is due to come out in the next few days. Subscribe here.
As per opening comments June has been a productive month for us delivering clear outputs on Sustainable Finance, supporting our members on regulatory consultation, publication of key updates and thought leadership on Fund Finance, leveraged finance, CLOs, and of course leading topical events on our markets.
Have a great summer break and see you in a few months.
Best regards,
Scott McMunn
Chief Executive Officer
Loan Market Association
