The Loan Market Association is to launch a document automation platform in partnership with Allen & Overy and contract automation platform Avvoka in order to help members generate LMA recommended documents.
The significant win for A&O and Avvoka came after a “comprehensive tender process” and in a statement, the LMA, which is the authoritative voice of the syndicated loan market in EMEA, said: “This is a progressive new area of activity for the LMA, and one which we are very excited about being able to offer to our membership in due course.”
The LMA creates standardised ‘boilerplate’ loan agreements that are then not subject to negotiation.
It added: “As technology becomes an increasingly prominent feature in our working lives, we believe that it is incumbent upon us as a leading industry body to continue to find new ways to make delivering the loan product more efficient. Never has this been more important than in the current uncertain environment, where remote working and use of electronic tools is likely to become vital to the successful conclusion of loan market transactions.
“This is an exciting new venture for our organisation, which we believe will benefit a large proportion of our membership, irrespective of institution type, size, sectoral focus or geographical location. We look forward to working with Allen & Overy and Avvoka as well as with our membership to ensure a relevant, valued and highly beneficial automation platform.”
More details about the platform and the services will be made available in the coming weeks.
Avvoka was founded in 2016 by former lawyers David Howorth and Eliot Benzecrit and became part of Allen & Overy’s tech hub Fuse in 2017. The magic circle law firm announced in 2018 that it had decided to fully license and roll out Avvoka’s contract lifecycle platform across its global network.