Launch of LMA.Automate, a document automation platform for syndicated loan templates
21 June 2021LMA.Automate, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Loan Market Association, has today launched a platform in respect of the automation of certain LMA recommended form documents, as well as other ancillary services. The platform aims to offer an end-to-end solution with a focus on the automation of LMA template documents, but with the functionality to cater for the entire document lifecycle, including negotiation and collaboration, documentation execution and comprehensive data extraction and reporting.
The recent LMA 2021 Fintech survey highlighted the increasing interest within the syndicated loan market in both document automation and electronic platforms for collaboration, as well as the importance of scalable solutions capable of operating across the market. Within this context and as part of an ongoing strategy on the part of the LMA to support syndicated loan market efficiency through the adoption of technology and use of data, LMA.Automate represents a significant commitment on the part of the LMA.
The service, a cloud-based platform powered by Avvoka software and fully hosted by Allen & Overy on a private Microsoft Azure cloud environment, will be available to existing LMA members initially for a free trial period and thereafter for a competitive annual subscription, based on number of individual users.
Clare Dawson, Chief Executive of the LMA said:
"The launch of LMA.Automate is very much reflective of our long-standing commitment to improving the efficiency of the loan market, encouraging the adoption of beneficial technology and supporting our members. We believe this service will benefit a large number of institutions across the market, irrespective of whether they are banks or law firms, as well as providing the opportunity for collaboration between them."
"This is an exciting new initiative for us, and one which we believe to be particularly important at the present time, given the ongoing transition of the market from LIBOR to RFRs. We hope that the platform will greatly assist with this transition in particular, enabling firms to update internal precedents via a simple, user friendly and flexible self-automation tool and facilitating the production of a greater number of templates than are currently available in manual form via the LMA website."
"Being an end-to-end solution, capable of converting documents into structured data, we also see enormous relevance to firms in the context of reporting and data analytics."