A persistent background of abnormally low rates and flattened yield curves combined with increased regulation and capital requirements, has long mandated that the easiest way for banks to “make” money has been for them to save it. The industry has generally failed in this regard. Despite large-scale reductions in head count, physical relocation to north- […]

Implied contract terms-Where are we? When considering the terms that may be implied into contracts it is always important to note that courts are in no way inclined to ‘rewrite’ legal documents. There are very few situations where a term is deemed to be ‘implied’ under English Law. Indeed many of the relevant authorities on […]

What did we learn? 1 March 2017 – deadline day for ‘big bang’ – has come and gone.  We all breathed a sigh of relief.  Or did we?  Regulators recognised the fact that firms would not be compliant and, in general, counselled the industry to ‘do your best to get it done by 1 September’.  […]

Introduction With VM CSA repapering in full swing over at DRS, this article took a while longer to write than first anticipated.  It has now been two weeks since ISDA published another two supplemental rules exhibits further amending the ISDA 2016 Variation Margin Protocol (the “Protocol”) on 27 January 2017: Supplemental Rules Exhibit for Non-Netting […]

The Final Frontier On 17 November 2016, ISDA published a “Supplemental Rules Exhibit” (the “EMIR Supplement”) to the ISDA 2016 Variation Margin Protocol (the “Protocol”).  The purpose of the EMIR Supplement is to enable adherents to the Protocol to integrate amendments for margin rules for OTC derivatives in order to achieve compliance with EMIR[1] into […]

Introduction On 16 August 2016, ISDA published the “2016 Variation Margin Protocol” (the “VM Protocol”), designed to assist counterparties in amending CSA documentation so as to comply with Working Group on Margin Requirements (WGMR) rules as implemented locally by: The US “Prudential Regulators”; The CFTC; The Financial Services Agency of Japan; and The Canadian Office […]

On 19 July 2016, ISDA published the draft 2016 Variation Margin Protocol for public consultation. Comments must be submitted by Friday 29 July 2016. It is not in the habit of ISDA to hold a public consultation on its drafts – Protocols in particular are generally presented as a fait accompli. The initiative is to […]

On 30 June 2016, ISDA published the Regulatory Margin Self-Disclosure Letter to facilitate compliance with the regulations on margin requirements for uncleared derivatives in the following jurisdictions: Canada The European Union Japan Switzerland The United States The letter allows parties to confirm basic information about their respective status in each jurisdiction (e.g. FC, NFC+ or […]

ISDA has today published the German Jurisdictional Module to the ISDA Resolution Stay Jurisdictional Modular Protocol (the ISDA JMP). The ISDA JMP provides a framework to facilitate jurisdiction-specific compliance with contractual stay regulations for contracts governed by third-country laws; its structure and mechanism is reviewed in detail in this blog post. The German Jurisdictional Module […]