Emirates NBD and Mashreq Bank have made a strategic investment in NewBridge Fintech Solutions, the owner of UAE-based fintech platform LoanBook. LoanBook offers a centralised marketplace digitising the syndicated loan and private credit markets. The investment will be used to scale up the platform and make it easier for market participants to access global loan opportunities.
LoanBook’s aim is to “fundamentally innovate” the $5.5trn (£4.25trn) annual loan issuance market across primary syndication, secondary trading, and lifecycle management workflows between borrowers, lenders and administrative agents. The platform recently appointed former ICBC banker Mark Waters as chief executive.“Our partnership with Emirates NBD and Mashreq Bank is a major step forward in our mission to digitise the syndicated loan market,” said Sid Bhandari, founder and chief executive of NewBridge Fintech.
“By collaborating closely with both teams, we will jointly address the numerous friction points in syndicated loan markets and leverage LoanBook’s next-generation technologies to bring new, innovative solutions and drive real change in the regional and global loan market.”
“Our loan syndication and agency team will actively collaborate with LoanBook to effectively address the multiple friction points endemic to the current loan market structure,” said Hitesh Asarpota, chief executive of Emirates NBD Capital.
“This aligns with our collaborative approach to innovation at Emirates NBD, and we are excited to be a part of LoanBook’s efforts to help shape the future of the loan market ecosystem.” Mashreq’s global head of investment banking Chiradeep Deb added that the bank intends to “actively collaborate, co-create, and commercialise solutions across the larger EMEA markets to bring modernisation to the syndicated loans market.”
