LMA publishes insurance broker letter

The Loan Market Association (LMA) has recently published a form of insurance broker letter, intended for use in real estate finance property investment transactions.

This has been prepared to meet market demand given the increasing difficulties experienced across the real estate sector in negotiating insurance covenants and broker letters over the last few years. The working party responsible for this new LMA precedent consisted of banks, non-bank lenders and City law firms active in the real estate finance market with input from various insurers and insurance bodies. It is intended to represent a fair position for lenders and insurance brokers and to reinforce market standard requirements.

The result is a good starting point for negotiations where the LMA real estate finance facility agreement is used, although tailoring will be required to deal with transaction specific matters and particular concerns for individual brokers.