Documentation

ISDA's Julian Day, Head of Market Infrastructure, discusses the top operational priorities for 2012 and explains how ISDA aims to help market participants address concerns regarding central clearing of OTC derivatives, implement the new standardised CSAs and the 2011 equity derivatives definitions.

Q. What will be the main focus for ISDA in 2012 from an operational point of view?

Michael Beaton of Document Risk Solutions explains the Standard Credit Support Annex (SCSA), which is not mandatory for counterparts to derivatives transactions, but is likely to significantly impact the future shape of the derivatives industry.

In a DerivSource Spotlight article, Sapient Global Markets explores some of the key impacts regulatory reforms will have on the documentation of OTC derivatives.

Michael Beaton explains the ins and outs of the new CASS Resolution Packs that some firms will have to produce and maintain regularly to meet new FSA proposals regarding recovery and resolution plans for client money

Two recent cases before the High Court have returned to the question first raised in Marine Trade S.A. v Pioneer Freight Futures Co Ltd as to whether or not a non-Defaulting Party to an ISDA Master Agreement is entitled to withhold payment to a Defaulting Party pursuant to Section 2(a)(iii) whilst simultaneously enforcing the Defaulting Party’s payment obligation in full.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will hold a public meeting on Thursday, September 8, 2011, at 9:30 a.m., to consider proposed rulemakings under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act on the following topics:

• Documentation and Margining (further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking), and

• Mandatory Clearing and Trading Implementation (NPRM).

The Meeting will be open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis.

The recently published FIA-ISDA cleared derivatives execution agreement is the industry’s first attempt to regulate the relationship between parties entering trades for central clearing. Documentation Risk Solutions’ managing director Michael Beaton explains the structure of this new legal agreement.

The Futures Industry Association and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) today announced the publication of the FIA-ISDA Cleared Derivatives Execution Agreement as a template that can be used by participants in the cleared swaps markets in negotiating execution-related agreements with counterparties to over-the-counter derivatives that are intended to be cleared.