Syndicated loan volume unscathed in final quarter 21 December 2007 3:58PM Ian Rogers Databank, The pipeline of syndicated loans established prior to the onset of the credit crunch proved more than sufficient to puff up volumes over the remainder of the calendar year.Preliminary data for 2007 compiled by Thomson Financial shows Australian loan market volume at US$93.6 billion in the fifty weeks to December 18. This means the December 2007 quarter was stronger than the average of the year's first three quarters, when Thomson recorded US$67.5 billion in volume.The A$9 billion financing line for Macquarie Group was the most prominent loan completed during the last quarter. Thomson included the A$10 billion loan to fund Wesfarmers' takeover of Coles Group in its third quarter data.ANZ accounted for US$16.0 billion of syndicated loans this year, equal to 17 per cent of the market on Thomson's data. National Australia Bank ranked second and Westpac third, thus reversing the rank of the top three last year.