The Law Debenture Trust Corporation plc v Ukraine [2023] UKSC 11 Summary This contract law case is steeped in international geopolitics, with direct ties to the 2014 revolution that overturned the government of Viktor Yanukovych, and to the current Russian invasion of Ukraine. Law Debenture Trust applied for summary judgment. The UK Supreme Court rejected […]

ISDA is in the process of responding to a request for comments on the SEC’s proposed “Safeguarding Rule for Investment Advisers (the “Safeguarding Rule”). The regulator seeks to amend the 60 years old Rule 206(4)-2 of the Advisers Act 1940, redesignating it as a new rule 223-1 under the same Act (the “Custody Rule”). Aimed […]

Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (in administration) v Assured Guaranty Financial Products Inc. (2023), Index No. 653285/2011 Summary This case now holds the record as the longest-running case to come out of the 2008 Lehman Brothers collapse, having entered the legal system in 2011. It was heard in the Commercial Division of the Supreme Court of […]

Fenchurch Advisory Partners LLP v AA Ltd [2023] EWHC 108 (Comm) Summary This High Court case centred on a dispute over whether a contract was validly formed despite the lack of signed engagement letter. Its significance lies in confirming basic points of law regarding contract formation. Judgment in this case was handed down on 24 […]

The FCA has announced that the synthetic 1-, 3- and 6 month USD LIBOR will be extended until 30 September 2024. Previously scheduled to end on 30 June 2023, the FCA refers to the extension as a “short period”. The synthetic LIBOR tenors will be available to all market users for rate-setting of legacy contracts, […]

Sara & Hossein Asset Holdings Ltd v Blacks Outdoor Retail Ltd [2023] UKSC 2 Citations in [square brackets] refer to the judgment, which can be found here. Facts Blacks, the clothing chain, were the tenant of two properties in Liverpool owned by Sara & Hossein Asset Holdings. The two properties were governed by separate leases, […]

To the surprise of very few, HM Treasury (HMT) yesterday stated its intention to introduce a statutory instrument extending the exemption for pension funds from the clearing obligation by a period of two years and extending the temporary intragroup exemption regime by a further three years. The statutory instrument will amend Article 89 (1) of UK […]

ISDA has identified potential differences in global Regulators’ approach to the treatment of legacy trades as firms move in and out of the initial margin regime following the AANA calculation. The IM rules are now fully phased-in, albeit with a large proportion of counterparties in the Threshold Monitoring waiting room. IM therefore becomes a BAU […]

On the 3rd of March 2023, a follow-up letter was sent from the ISDA, the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) and the Investment Association to the PRA and the BoE. This letter set out the proposal to make permanent UK EMIR temporary exemptions for certain equity options by removing initial margin and variation margin.   […]