For years, structured finance and fund finance lived in neighbouring but distinct corridors of the London private practice market. One spoke in tranches,waterfallsand risk retention; the other in subscription lines, LPdiligenceand NAV covenants. In 2026, that neat division looks increasingly old-fashioned. What’s happening now is a pragmatic, client-driven convergence: the Great Securitisation/Fund Finance Amalgamation (N.B. trade mark pending – if you are a trade mark lawyer reading this, let’s talk) a steady blending of product skillsets, client bases and lawyer profiles into a single, broader “structured credit & private capital finance” proposition. This shift is notsimplyacosmeticrebrand. It is changing what lawyers do day-to-day, which teams are winning mandates, and why partner hiring infinance inLondon finance has become so strategically targeted.

Why The Walls Are Coming Down

At a market level, securitisation has retained momentum through 2025, supported by continued investor confidence, gradual regulatory evolution, and the growing role of private credit and non-bank lenders. At the same time, the UK continues to see innovation in forward-flow and platform lending structures, and new or fast-growing asset classes (from EV-related assets to data centres and equity release) are keeping the market busy and imaginative.

Meanwhile, fund finance is no longer confined to subscription lines. The market has expanded in product range and complexity as borrowers and lenders look for liquidity solutions across the fund lifecycle - subscription facilities, hybrid structures and, crucially, NAV-based lending. Industry commentary continues to frame this as “ballooning” growth, with more lenders, more borrowers and more products, while also emphasising the importance of transparency and stakeholder comfort.

This has led partners to a single convergence point: private capital needs financing that is repeatable, scalable and distributable - exactly what securitisation tooling was built to do. On the other hand, structured finance needs repeat issuers and predictable collateral streams, which is exactly what private funds and platform lenders increasingly provide.

The Deal Flow that’s Driving The Blend

In classic securitisation, the centre of gravity is still RMBS, auto ABS and CLOs in the UK and Europe. Data from AFME highlights how issuance and “placed” volumes move around by product type quarter-to-quarter, with Pan-European CLOs and UK RMBS among the leading categories.Ratings commentary continues to place the UK at or near the top of European issuance by volume and deal count in recent periods, driven particularly by RMBS. 

​But on the fund side, the market mechanics are changing. Fundraising headwinds and longer raise cycles have pushed GPs and managers to use financing more creatively,both to smooth liquidity and to support execution timelines. A market recap focused on 2024/Year-End themes points to ongoing fundraising pressure alongside continuing demand for subscription lines and NAV facilities.

​Put this altogether and you get a clear pattern in London: more transactions that look like “fund finance with structured credit features” (NAV facilities with asset-level discipline, lender syndication, and tighter reporting), along with more transactions that look like “structured finance with private capital wrappers” (forward-flow, warehouse-to-securitisation pipelines, platform financings and bespoke funding solutions). 

How This Impacts Your Work

This amalgamation is reshaping the associate experience in London structured and fund finance teams in three practical ways:

1) Product breadth is now table stakes.
A modern “structured credit” lawyer in London is increasingly expected to speak both languages: the securitisation vocabulary (SPVs, true sale analysis, cashflow mechanics, hedging interfaces, disclosure and regulatory overlays) and the fund finance vocabulary (LP/side-letter sensitivity, borrowing base construction, NAV covenants, GP-level facilities, and governance). Even fund finance specialists increasingly describe their remit as spanning subscription lines plus NAV, hybrid and “asset-backed” fund facilities.

2) Execution has become more operational.
Clients want financing products that integrate with asset managers’ reporting cycles, investment committee timings, and portfolio operations. That pulls lawyers closer to repeatable templates, process design, and coordination, not just bespoke negotiation.

3) The regulatory lens is widening.
Securitisation’s regulatory framework continues to evolve, and structured credit teams are navigating divergence and balance sheet optimisation pressures in a higher-rate environment. Fund finance lawyers are also seeing increased scrutiny and stakeholder expectations around transparency and risk framing, particularly on subscription lines.

Partner Moves: London is Buying Hybrid Skillsets

The London lateral market is responding exactly as expected. Firms are investing in partners who can credibly operate at the intersection of structured finance and private capital, or who can materially increase a team’s sophistication and range.

On the structured finance side, firms have made explicit investments in London capability, including hires focused on asset-backed finance, CLOs and bespoke funding solutions. On the fund finance side, firms are scaling capacity and adding senior depth to support expanding product suites and increasing transaction volumes.

The common thread across these moves is clear. London clients are increasingly willing to pay for advisers who can offer a genuinely integrated proposition - combining structured credit expertise with deep understanding of private capital and fund-level dynamics.

What This Means for Candidates in The London Market

For associates and counsel considering a move, the amalgamation is(mostly)good news:

1) Your ceiling rises with your breadth. The more you can credibly cover both securitisation mechanics and fund finance product nuance, the more “portable” you become across firms and platforms in the long run.

2) You’ll see more varied client contact earlier. These deals often require managing stakeholder groups: funds, banks, private credit, arrangers, asset managers, servicers, and sometimes rating agencies. That can accelerate commercial development.​

3) More teams will train in “adjacent fluency.” 

The Next 12–24 Months: Where We See The Amalgamation Go Next

From trends already spotted from our unique market position, I would expect two developments:

​First, the pipeline will keep expanding into new collateral types and new liquidity moments, especially where private capital owns the asset, but public-style financing economics are attractive. UK securitisation commentary already points to emerging and growing asset classes continuing to push innovation.

​Second, the “centre” of both practices will shift further towards private credit(although with recent confidence developments, this is tbc). As private credit funds play larger roles in both origination and structured deployment, the legal market will keep compressing the distance between “fund finance,” “structured credit,” and “special situations financing.” The firms are expected to make some of the big moves in London will be the ones that stop treating those as separate product silos-and instead build genuinely integrated teams and career paths.

​Conclusion
To the reader, in short:this is one of the most exciting times in recent history to be a structured finance/fund finance lawyer and if you are building or joining a London finance practice, the question will be ‘where on the private capital continuum will I sit’?

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