Financial technology. Credit: Shutterstock.com

Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Linklaters and Latham & Watkins have joined forces to found a new data automation consortium, aimed at addressing legal inefficiencies in financial market transactions.

The consortium aims to pioneer a developing technology known as "general-purpose legal mark-up language" (GLML) — an open-source "language" which, according to the consortium, can be read by both machines and humans. The dual-reading capability enables its application to any form of financial product documentation.

According to Nivaura general counsel and former A&O lawyer Richard Cohen, the code assists with the "accurate extraction of key data from legal documentation, allowing it to be passed to relevant intermediaries in an automated and seamless way".

As part of the venture, the four firms are also working alongside Fintech Nivaura, according to a statement from the GLML Consortium. Nivaura was founded in 2016 and focuses on the wholesale automation of capital market transactions.

In February, Linklaters and A&O co-invested in the start-up as part of a $20 million seed round investment alongside The London Stock Exchange Group, Santander, Aegon and U.S. law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

In a statement, Phil Smith, another former A&O partner and chair of the GLML Consortium commented: "A current challenge in transactions is that the myriad of information and communication channels means people spend more time then they need to on manual tasks.

"Technologies that streamline communications and the input of data into transactions and which reduce manual touchpoints should be very beneficial."