The Australian syndicated loan market enjoyed its biggest quarter on record in December, pushing the annual result for the market over US$100 billion.According to the latest KPMG debt market update, the volume of syndicated loans written in the December quarter surpassed the previous peak in late 2007.Prominent among the borrowers were Origin Energy, which did a A$6.6 billion refinance, AquaSure (the Victorian desalination company), which did a $3.7 billion refinancing, Lend Lease ($3.3 billion) and Energy Australia ($2.1 billion).KPMG said most of the deals were refinancings rather than new-money transactions. This is bad news for banks, which are providing new facilities for existing customers at lower margins.KPMG said the margin for "AA" rated credit contracted by 24 basis points during 2013, while the margin for "A" rated credit contracted by 21 bps over the same period. "BBB" rated credit contracted by 12 bps.