CEO Monthly Update – October 2025 - LMA- Loan Market Association

Scott McMunn
LMA
LMA News

Dear Members,

October had too much travel for me which I will come to but looks we are at the home stretch reaching the end of 2025. The usual two weeks of half term, celebration of my birthday as miraculously I stay in my 40s (spoiler – not really), and Halloween.

Living near the American School in London, we experience the over-the-top house decorations, hordes of dressed up children, and of course buckets of sugar rush. What’s not to like….

While I enjoyed celebrating Diwali with some of my friends and neighbours the fireworks are not always appreciated by my dog. White noise, treats and loud music provided a welcome distraction.

In our loan markets there have also been a few ghouls with the high-profile default of First Brands and the no doubt now famous quote about cockroaches. It was fascinating to be at the LSTA Annual Conference last week in New York where this theme was discussed in most of the out of room chats.

Notwithstanding these stories technicals are so strong in the leveraged markets and we have seen minimal impact.

I have no doubt we won’t have seen the last of this story with questions being asked whether this is indeed the only roach or are there more – and specifically is this an idiosyncratic event or much more.

In October, we were pleased to be able to submit a response to the Financial Services Regulation Select Committee here in the UK about Private Markets. We were able to move at pace and meet strict timelines and we further look forward to working with the Committee and ensuring the LMA has an important seat at the table in considering any recommendations. A big thanks to Slaughter and May who were able to work with us in putting this document together and to all the members who contributed.

We also published revisions to the LMA front running interpretive guidance as contained in our front running letter of undertaking users guide and association footnotes. Loan markets are changing, and the aim of the update was to clarify the intention of the existing provisions and clear up any confusion in the market. We have also set up a dedicated working group to consider the extent to which this approach and the content of our provisions remain suitable and fit for purpose.

As mentioned, I was grateful to Sean and the LSTA team for the invite to their Annual Conference. It is always interesting to compare, and I very much enjoyed many of the panels, especially as the range included sponsors, fund finance, IP and infra financing, also delving into emerging technology. It was an excellent opportunity to see many of the LMA members there and even do some cross selling about the LMA!

The biggest insight for me was seeing how the LSTA were developing their 30-year anniversary – some great ideas for me as we enter 2026 where we will also turn 30! More details of the trip will be shared soon.

From our side we also hosted our Middle East Conference in Dubai, moving it to a new venue, and adding an extra day of in person training. I took the opportunity to do a series of 121s with members, non-members and even the DFSA and shared the LMA vision and strategy for delivering for the MENA loan markets. It is clear there is a strong support for this vision and some tangible and specific benefits we can bring to these loan markets.

The event itself saw nearly three hundred attendees, but more satisfying was the seniority of people in the room. We had some incredible panels covering global and local markets, and I am truly thankful to all the speakers for their time and effort. Read the summary of what we covered in the Middle East. And our own Olivia Sharp who was the events lead of this conference celebrated her birthday with us. We will be back over in Q1 hosting some round tables.

I missed FutureLend Europe which was held in Amsterdam – the LMA Junior Board took ownership of this for the first time shaping the agenda and curating the content. Feedback has been excellent and this part of the LMA training delivery is to be strongly commended – over 400 people across 3 events which has hopefully planted the DNA of the LMA through the attendees. We published a summary of the event.

November will see us visit Kenya and Tanzania for our East Africa Conference, our Sustainable Finance Conference in London, and a final Funds Finance Seminar rounding off the great work we have done in this area in 2025. I am looking forward to the Tanzania trip where we have set up a senior stakeholder roundtable meeting senior representatives of the key local banks, corporates and the Ministry of Finance – what can the LMA do to support and develop the loan markets in East Africa.

This month saw the LMA team in full swing on our public policy and regulatory work.

In Europe, our advocacy in Brussels continued around the EU securitisation proposals, with meetings being held with MEPs’ assistants and the permanent representatives of governments of various member states to the European Union.
On CRDVI, we hosted a member roundtable exploring how Art 21c might apply to common lending scenarios.
And, finally, our new Public Policy and Regulation Committee (ExCo) meets for the first time on 4 November to help set priorities for our public policy and regulatory work for the year ahead.

This month saw the official launch of the Guide to Transition Loans, a landmark publication designed to accelerate progress in global transition finance. Developed in collaboration with over 60 leading financial institutions, the Guide provides much-needed clarity on what constitutes credible transition finance and offers a practical framework for integrating transition objectives into loan structures. By bridging the gap between “green” and “transition” finance, it aims to unlock large-scale capital flows into hard-to-abate sectors and drive the global shift toward net zero. The launch marks a major milestone in fostering alignment, transparency, and momentum across the transition finance market.

As you will have seen we have sent out the renewal documents for 2026. You will no doubt be pleased to see there are no fee increases even though we are doing more! We are committed to some incremental investment spending over the year though so adding to the value proposition we offer to you, our members.

We are always striving to improve our connectivity with members and ensure we remain abreast of your needs and aims. In the next few weeks, we will also be sending out a short survey. If I can ask one thing that you can do to help us it would be this – please spend some time on it and respond.

Over the last month we have been delighted to welcome another nine members to the LMA. The Middle East Conference, our East Africa Conference, and upcoming Cape Town event has been a great way to showcase the LMA and our work and we look forward to growing this membership pipeline over the rest of 2025.

We have added some firepower to the LMA team over the last month with some consultancy support around L&D, sponsorship platform, and the Middle East.

It is likely we will add to this over the next few months, and I would like to add senior resource in the Middle East and another to support our building work around emerging technology. With documentation being so critical I will also be looking to add expertise there.

Specifically, I am pleased to say we have hired a Technology Director who will manage the LMA work on emerging technology, specifically DLT and Generative AI, and the impact on the loan markets.