Introduction In CFTC Letter 12-17 dated 12 October 2012, the CFTC clarified that, effective immediately, it was unlawful under Section 2(e) of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) for a person that is not an “eligible contract participant” (“ECP”) to guaranty the swap obligations of another party, unless the swap in question was executed on a […]

On 12 April 2013, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) published a Letter on Margin Requirements for Non-Centrally Cleared Derivatives written jointly with the Institute of International Finance (IIF), the Association of Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). The letter is addressed to the Basel Committee […]

Risk Magazine is reporting that the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (“ISDA”) and the Futures and Options Association have finalised the long overdue standard “Client Cleared OTC Derivatives Addendum” (the “European Addendum”) designed to enable clearing members to sign up clients and so facilitate central clearing in Europe. The European Addendum was originally due to […]

Here is a link to an interesting article in Risk Magazine regarding the potential impact of the “near final” BCBS/IOSCO margin rules for non-cleared derivatives (the “BCBS/IOSCO Rules”) on the adoption of ISDA’s standard credit support annex (SCSA). The BCBS/IOSCO consultation paper which includes the “near final” rules was published on 15 February 2013 (see […]

On 22 March 2013, the ISDA March 2013 Dodd-Frank Protocol (the “DF Protocol 2.0”) opened.  The DF Protocol 2.0 is part of ISDA’s Dodd-Frank Documentation Initiative and attempts to assist the industry in complying with certain CFTC final rulings imposed under Title VII of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank […]

On 25 March 2013, ISDA published a guidance note and amendment letter  for use by firms in amending the terms of transactions which refer to LIBOR rates for currencies and maturities which are due to be phased out by the British Bankers’ Association’s (BBA) following the Wheatley Review into possible reforms to the methodology for […]

Introduction On 8 March 2013, ISDA published its “ISDA 2013 EMIR NFC Representation Protocol” (the “EMIR Protocol”), the purpose of which is to enable parties to amend ISDA Master Agreements to reflect their status under EMIR as either: financial counterparties (FC); non-financial counterparties to which the clearing obligation applies (NFC+), or non-financial counterparties to which […]

ISDA has circulated a pre-publication draft of an amendment agreement, designed to help counterparties to ISDA Master Agreements comply with the EMIR regulatory technical standards regarding risk mitigation techniques(the “Risk Mitigation RTS”), which deals with the issue of timely confirmations of non-cleared OTC derivatives. The template amendment agreement is a very helpful document which brings […]

Later this month, ISDA is set to publish its “ISDA 2013 EMIR NFC Representation Protocol” (the “EMIR Protocol”), the purpose of which is to enable parties to amend ISDA Master Agreements to reflect their status as either: non-financial counterparties to which the clearing obligation applies (NFC+), or non-financial counterparties to which the clearing obligation does […]