Matthew Williams
Partner
Matt is a Partner in the Banking & Finance team at Taylor Wessing. Matt specialises in credit M&A transactions including loan trading and distribution, portfolio sales (both performing and non-performing), balance sheet transactions for financial institutions as well as buy-side participants and loan servicers in the secondary loan market and other types of structured receivables transactions.
Prior to his role at Taylor Wessing, Matt worked in the finance and restructuring team at a leading international law firm where he advised on distressed debt, structured finance and special situations.
Prior to that, Matt was a corporate banker at a UK bank, responsible for the design and execution of balance sheet deleveraging activities and regulatory capital solutions, and latterly the commercial lead for loan distribution and demand led origination.
Matt has acted on some of Europe's largest NPE/NPL transactions (buy and sell side) in both a commercial and legal capacity to an aggregate gross book value in excess of £50bn. These transactions include the strategic withdrawal by a UK bank from Ireland, Portugal and Spain and the first ever Cypriot NPE loan portfolio sale.
Matt has represented many other UK banks across a wide range of asset class disposals (in both debt and equity), driven by deleveraging and regulatory capital considerations, such as shipping, CRE, infrastructure and corporate lending.
Practice Area
Panel
- Contributing Author
Qualified Year
- 2006
Experience
- Slaughter and May (2004 - 2008)
- Hogan Lovells (2008 - 2013)
- Llloyds Bank (Banker – NPLS, loan trading and portfolio management) (2013 - 2017)
- Taylor Wessing (2025 - Present)
Qualifications
- BSC Hons – Political Science (2022)
- LPC (2004)
- PGDL (2003)
Education
- University of Bristol (2002)
- Nottingham Law School (2002-2004)
2 Contributions by Matthew Williams
PRACTICE NOTES
Loan portfolio sales: documentation roadmap, seller and buyer negotiation points, and why LMA trade terms are unsuitable for portfolio disposals
This Practice Note sets out an overview of the principal legal papers used to bring a loan portfolio disposal to completion and highlights the usual negotiating stances taken by sellers and buyers. For a primer on loan portfolio disposals and a sample pathway these transactions often follow, see Practice Note: Introductory guide to loan portfolio sales. For an outline of some of the core matters that can arise on loan portfolio sales, see Practice Note: Loan portfolio sales—key issues. The market’s approach to documentation for portfolio disposals is not entirely uniform; however, over the last decade a number of recurring features and conventions have developed, which are considered in this Practice Note.
Key documents used in portfolio sales
The documents most frequently encountered in loan portfolio sales include:
Confidentiality agreements
Sale and purchase agreement
Disclosure letter
Sub-participation agreement/synthetic transfer arrangements
Hedging transfer documentation
Loan and equity transfer documentation
Transitional services agreement/third-party servicing agreements
Why is LMA form documentation not used?
...
Banking & Finance
PRACTICE NOTES
UK loan portfolio disposals: legal due diligence, transferability, security, derivatives/equity, confidentiality, restructuring, regulatory (EU NPL), tax and operational considerations
This Practice Note
This Practice Note reviews the principal issues that can emerge on a loan portfolio sale and that are likely to matter to banking law practitioners handling large-scale loan (and other financial product) disposals. For an outline of the usual participants and the sale process in a loan portfolio transaction, see Practice Note: Introductory guide to loan portfolio sales, and for an overview of the legal documentation typically deployed, see Practice Note: Loan portfolio sales—legal documentation. For additional insight into matters that may arise on single asset debt trades, see Practice Note: Introductory guide to loan transfers. Buyers and sellers alike should also assess whether the EU regime on non‑performing loans in Directive (EU) 2021/2167 and Implementing Regulation EU 2023/2083 is applicable. If it is, there will be specific supplementary obligations for buyers, sellers and ‘credit servicers’. There is, as yet, no corresponding legislation in force in the UK; however, while the EU rules attach to loans originated by EU banks, they also touch non‑EU purchasers of non‑performing loans, and therefore will influence the loan market, and market participants, outside the EU more broadly as well...
Banking & Finance
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