There has been a move to fewer but larger syndicated and club loans in Australia and New Zealand this year.According to Thomson Reuters Asia Pacific loan market statistics, there were 131 club and syndicated deals closed in the ten months to October 2016 in Australia and New Zealand, with a total value of US$56.4 billion. "This volume corresponds to a decrease of 19.6 per cent compared to the same time last year, while deal count decreased by about a third," the report stated.The move towards fewer but larger loans sizes was observed elsewhere across the region but was not a uniform trend. Refinancing accounted for 32.1 per cent of loans closed in Asia Pacific (ex-Japan), reaching US$117.7 billion year-to-date. M&A loans accounted for US$58.4 billion, reaching an all-time high.Although the Asia Pacific region's year-to-date M&A volume has surpassed M&A volume for any previous years, volumes for Australasia decreased when compared to the same period last year (US$13.9 billion v US$23.4 billion for the first ten months in 2015).Month-on-month the APAC Loan League Table for the year to date was little changed. All Australian majors were in the top 15 regional lists, with ANZ clearly ahead of its peers.Among the mandated arrangers, the first four spots were filled by Chinese banks, headed by Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (arranger of almost $46 billion via 240 loans). DBS kept hold of the number five spot. ANZ (number six in September) and China Construction Bank (no 6 in October) swapped places while Westpac (number 14 this month) moved up one notch.The bookrunner league table was almost a carbon copy - although ANZ was at number four, ahead of NAB (eight), CBA (12) and Westpac (13).