Risk Magazine is reporting that ISDA is to embark on a re-write of the Standard Credit Support Annex (SCSA), dubbed “SCSA II”. The triple-whammy delivered by the Basel Leverage Ratio (see this blog post for more detail), the BCBS/IOSCO rules on margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives (see this blog post for more detail) and […]

On 31 January 2014, ISDA published a draft of a new Section 6(g) to the 2002 ISDA Master Agreement – a clause that counterparties can use to bilaterally amend the operation of the conditions precedent to be found within Section 2(a)(iii).  Together with the BCBS/IOSCO margin rules for non-cleared derivatives, suspension of termination rights for […]

A short update on developments in the Footnote 513 Guidance case filed by ISDA, SIFMA and the IIB (the “Plaintiffs”) against the CFTC in early December 2013. A win for the Plaintiffs on the issue of cross-border guidance will render a large proportion of the CFTC’s rules and consequent enforcement actions open to substantive legal […]

During an AIMA briefing on EMIR reporting held on 16 January 2013, the recently published ISDA/FOA EMIR Reporting Delegation Agreement was panned by buy-side firms, their advisors and representatives of the CME.  The main criticisms focussed on limitations of liability, the amount of discretion retained by the reporting party, its ability to delegate to a […]

Risk Magazine is reporting that the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s (BCBS) final “Basel III leverage ratio framework and disclosure requirements”, published on 12 January 2014 may force the restructuring of existing portfolios of credit support annexes (CSA) and looks set to deal a serious blow to the viability of ISDA’s standard credit support annex […]

Introduction On 13 January 2014, ISDA and the FOA published their jointly drafted ISDA/FOA EMIR Reporting Delegation Agreement (the “Agreement”), designed to help market participants meet their obligations under Article 9 of EMIR by providing a bilateral standard form contract which can be used to document delegated reporting arrangements. The Agreement Under the Agreement, an […]

ISDA has published a survey assessing market fragmentation and liquidity dissipation consequent upon confusion and uncertainty surrounding the controversial Footnote 88. The footnote expands the scope of the SEF mandate to effectively include all electronically traded OTC derivatives, obliging even those platforms that do not trade “required products” to register and their clients to abide […]

Risk Magazine is reporting that, in its current form, the FIA-ISDA Cleared Derivatives Execution Agreement does not comply with CFTC guidance, with the consequence that thousands of existing agreements will either have to be “torn up or amended”.

On 2 September 2013, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (“BCBS”) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (“IOSCO”) published their final policy document regarding “Margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives” (see this blog post for more detail). Under the guidance, firms will be required to exchange initial margin (IM) on a gross basis.  In […]