Dear Members,
With the LMA approaching its 30 year birthday in 2026, there is another near 30-year-old wait that was ended in November. Scotland have qualified for the football World Cup. There was mixed excitement in the household with my sons having mixed allegiance but what a night to see Scotland qualify again.
There were the usual moments where we were looking to be snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, but hope now springs eternal for a long run in the summer of 2026.
I will now of course, need to check fixtures and any potential conflicts with some key LMA events and activities.
The November loan markets continued in the same strong vein, albeit there have been several thought-provoking commentaries from some of the key stakeholders and supervisors, which we will touch on below. Not quite fireworks a la Guy Fawkes evening but enough to merit reflection and challenge.
It has been incredibly pleasing for me to have been able to meet many of our members and several LMA prospects through the month – many of them at a bilateral level but many also at some of the broader events and meetings. We welcomed six new faces at the LMA November Board meeting which I will also touch on below.
We launched our Member Survey in early November. I’d be thankful if you could take 5-7 minutes to complete it. Your input helps us set the LMA direction in a way that reflects your needs. Click here.
By the time you look at this we will be in December – a wonderful period of the year allowing us to spend quality time with our families and friends and look back to memories from the year past.
The McMunn passport has now been put in the drawer for 2025 after a hectic period over the last month. The month started with a guest invite to the EFAMA Investment Management Forum. We have worked closely and collaboratively with EFAMA over 2025 on some pivotal topics such as Fund Formation (UCITs, ELTAFs, LTIVs), securitisation reform and CLOs, supporting SIU in Europe, and even the subject of private ratings. We have many overlapping members, and we certainly value the strength of this relationship.
Then it was off to East Africa where I was delighted to open the LMA East Africa Conference in Nairobi. This was followed by a short trip to Tanzania where Amelia Slocombe and I hosted a round table with local market participants – borrowers, lenders, and advisory firms. A big thank you to our members who travelled out to support the event, even speak, and also to ensure their clients were invited. There was nearly 200 people over these two days and for me I was greatly encouraged to see the value of the LMA work and to see how it is used to support local loan markets – both bank lending, private market finance, and of course the development banks and export credit agencies. Read the conference report here.
I spoke about regulatory commentary in my opening and, over the latter part of November, had the privilege of meeting key regulators and supervisors in Paris and Frankfurt. The conversations covered SFDR, CRD6 and Article 21c, Securitisation, and of course CLOs, Private Credit, and NBFIs. My priority was to ensure that the LMA is recognised by these bodies as representing the largest segment of European financing, namely your loan markets. There is much work to do but I took away many key positives. I will be writing a short note over the next few weeks to provide further details. Our meetings covered Banque De France, ECB, EIOPA, and ESMA as the key significant parties.
We welcomed six new Board members to the November LMA Board. Four of these were part of our electoral process as covered in the last newsletter, but post AGM I was sorry to see Frank Hewitt (JP Morgan) and Paul Gibbs (Citibank) stand down. They have been replaced by Graham Holden and Andrew Mason who will stand as interim Directors until the AGM in 2026.
The main discussion points centred on LMA Intellectual Property, LMA.Automate and 2026, and a spotlight on the Middle East and the LMA Strategy. More time was spent dissecting a three-year financial forecast I presented which presents analysis on how the key LMA strategies will not only be financed but also measured. I am pleased to see the strong support from the Board for these plans, and I will update to the broader membership base in my end of year newsletter and 2026 outlook.
As you are aware we have already started the renewal process for 2026. I am incredibly encouraged by not only the early feedback but also the pace of formal approvals. Around 30% of you have already paid the subscription fees.
We are also doing a member survey conducted on our behalf by Research by Design, an independent research agency, to gather your feedback on how effectively the LMA supports you and your organisation in all areas including through our events, documentation, learning and training and communications. To fill in the survey either search for an email from email@boxsurveys.net or click here.
This survey is very important to us as it helps inform where we can do more but also shows where we are meeting your expectations.
And even in November we have seen new members join. I was particularly pleased to see Etherealise join the LMA following a meeting in New York. The pace of change in digital assets and ultimately tokenisation is staggering and the LMA will be more relevant with these voices in our community.
I mentioned our Africa conference above, but November also saw our flagship Sustainable Finance conference built around the theme of the mythical Phoenix – the focus highlighted the emerging topics around sustainable lending with a powerful look forward to 2026. Subscribe for Horizons to read the exclusive conference report.
Our final Fund Finance seminar was also very topical, and it was great to hear from key stakeholders in this area, many of them non-members. I refer here to some key GPs and also those in the secondary and fund formation space.
2026 is coming rapidly and we are already close to LMA Edge and the LMA ICMA Annual Africa Summit. Please register when you can as demand is already at a point where capacity will be reached imminently.
I am also delighted to be invited to speak at a key industry event in Kuwait where I will be arranging a round table with the Kuwait Banking Authority and also bolting on a second centre trip in the region meeting regulators and local market participants.
It has been a fantastic November from a personal but certainly a business perspective and I would encourage you all to pay tribute and support my great team. They have been responsible for the design and execution of these outcomes – and merit the recognition!
I love this time of year as we are able to look back, reflect and celebrate success with our teams.
Scott McMunn
CEO
Loan Market Association
