ISDA’s Asia-Pacific Offices in Hong Kong and Singapore cater for members based in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan).  Generally, but not exclusively, attention is focused on members active in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, People’s Republic of China, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

In addition to participating in any of ISDA’s global committees (see: www.isda.org/c_and_a/ca_nav.html), members of ISDA based in the Asia-Pacific region are encouraged to address any regulatory, legal, market practice, and accounting issues that arise within the region through the following committees:

Asia-Pacific Commodity Committee

The Asia Pacific Commodity Committee meets quarterly to discuss issues related to documentation developments for commodities and developing products, as well as operations and other topical issues in that space. The committee comprises documentation and operations practitioners and also focuses on educational efforts for practitioners on commodities and other developing products.

Asia-Pacific Credit Derivatives Committee

The Asia-Pacific Credit Derivatives Committee meets to discuss the use of ISDA’s credit derivatives documentation in the region and to consider local practices to the extent they are similar or different from business practices elsewhere. There has been some suggestion that further locally tailored credit derivatives documentation should be developed.

The Asia-Pacific Credit Derivatives Committee is co-chaired as follows:

• Asia-Pacific Credit Derivatives Committee - Hong Kong
  Co-Chair: David Cummins, Senior Counsel, Nomura International (Hong Kong) Limited
  
  
• Asia-Pacific Credit Derivatives Committee - Singapore
  Co-Chair: Robert Tobias, Regional Head of Legal, Wholesale Bank, Standard Chartered Bank
  
  
  • CDS Coupon Standardization Working Group
    This working group provides a platform for members to address the topic of standardizing coupons of Credit Default Swap transactions, including setting the most common coupon level and other trading practices. Due to the geographical spread of the APAC region, the Coupon Standardization Working Group is divided further into two groups.
    
    
    • Australia and New Zealand CDS Coupon Standardization Working Group
      The Australia and New Zealand CDS Coupon Standardization Working Group discusses the treatment for Australia and New Zealand underliers.
      
      
    • AEJ CDS Coupon Standardization Working Group
      The AEJ CDS Coupon Standardization Working Group discusses the treatment for Asia ex-Japan underliers.

Asia-Pacific Legal and Regulatory Committee

The Asia-Pacific Legal and Regulatory (“L&R”) Committee consists mainly of legal professionals. The L&R Committee discusses proposed changes to ISDA current Documentation library. In addition, the group monitors laws and regulations affecting members and/or derivatives markets in the Asia-Pacific region. As appropriate, ISDA will draw on members of the L&R Committee to draft submission letters to regulators on topical matters. Currently, there are two committees - the Hong Kong based L&R Committee meets on the last Tuesday of each month and the Singapore based L&R Committee meets on the last Thursday of each month.

The Asia-Pacific Legal and Regulatory Committee is co-chaired as follows:

• Asia-Pacific Legal and Regulatory Committee - Hong Kong
  Co-Chair: Tricia Bowden, Managing Director and Senior Counsel, Goldman Sachs (Japan) Ltd.
  
  
• Asia-Pacific Legal and Regulatory Committee - Singapore
  Co-Chair: Akash Mohapatra, Director and Senior Legal Counsel, Deutsche Bank AG
  
  
  
  
  • Asia Ex Japan Equity Working Group
    The Asia Ex Japan Equity Working Group seeks to address documentation projects specific to the Equity Derivatives space. The Working Group meets regularly as and when specific projects are considered. For details, see Equity Documentation Projects.
    
    
  • Retail Structured Products Working Group
    The Retail Structured Products Working Group discusses issues related to HK SFC requirements on product disclosure language in the wake of the Lehman minibonds controversy and provides feedback to the relevant authorities.

Asia-Pacific Risk Management Committee

The Asia-Pacific Risk Management Committee consists mainly of risk practitioners. Committee members receive a selection of regional updates and topical information related to ISDA’s Risk Management activities. This adds to the information made available to members of ISDA's global Risk Management Committee, which mostly follows developments in Europe and North America. The Asia-Pacific Risk Management Committee serves as a forum for regionally based members to discuss issues related to the impending Basel II Accord and also focuses on educational efforts within the Asia-Pacific region.

Asia-Pacific Steering Committee

The Asia-Pacific Steering Committee consists mainly of front office and business people. The Steering Committee aims to address market practice and business matters of topical concern and also determines the overall strategy and direction of ISDA’s activities in the Asia-Pacific region. The Committee reviews issues of general concern to ISDA’s Asia-Pacific based members and addresses these issues with the respective regulators or other organizations, where applicable.

Country Specific Working Groups in Asia

Due to regular interest and efforts in a number of key jurisdictions ISDA has set up Working Groups specific to these jurisdictions. The Working Groups address business and regulatory issues of importance to ISDA members active in this region. In view of enacted legislation and further regulatory initiatives, there are increased efforts in the region to address topical issues promptly and effectively. The focus of these Working Groups is on interacting with local regulators, members and other relevant market participants to familiarize them with ISDA, its documentation, global practices and other relevant matters through discussions, written submissions, meetings and seminars.

• Asia-Pacific Australia Working Group
• Asia-Pacific India Working Group
• Asia-Pacific Indonesia Working Group
• Asia-Pacific Korea Working Group
• Asia-Pacific Malaysia Working Group
• Asia-Pacific New Zealand Working Group
• Asia-Pacific PRC Working Group
• Asia-Pacific Thailand Working Group
  

Some recent issues discussed by the above Committees:

1. PRC focus has been on promoting the need for close-out netting to be enforceable.  In addition, ISDA has engaged in the development of a bridge agreement to resolve uncertainty between two local language Master Agreements.
2. Measures by Reserve Bank of India and Securities and Exchange Board of India to support the growth of the OTC markets in India.
3. Impact of South Korea’s new and improved bankruptcy legislation and regional documentation developments.
4. Discussions with Bank Negara to enhance legal certainty as it relates to close-out netting in Malaysia.
5. Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) ISDAFIX rate published daily on Reuters
6. Local language documents provided by ISDA for educational purposes:
   1. 2002 ISDA Master Agreement – Simplified / Traditional Chinese / Korean
   2. ISDA Glossary of Collateral Terms - Chinese Translation
   3. Chinese Translation of Changes between 2000 and 2006 Definitions
      Summary of Changes in ISDA 2006 Definitions (Chinese)
      Introduction to ISDA 2006 Definitions (Chinese)
   4. Retail Structured Products: Principles for Managing the Provider-Distributor Relationship - Simplified / Traditional Chinese
   5. Retail Structured Products: Principles for Managing the Distributor-Individual Investor Relationship - Simplified / Traditional Chinese
7. Member interest in Shariah law compliant derivatives documentation.
8. Use of collateral arrangements in Asian jurisdictions.
9. Enforceability of close-out netting in the Asia-Pacific region.
10. Developments on ISDA Documentation.
11. Implementation of new Basel Accord in the Asia-Pacific region.

2002 - 2009 Conferences and Seminars in the Asia-Pacific region:

2010 Conferences and Seminars in the Asia-Pacific region (schedule subject to change):

Date	Events
Wednesday, 20th January	Equity Derivatives Conference 2010 Venue: Pacific Place Conference Center, Hong Kong
Friday, 22nd January	Documenting Commodity Transactions using the ISDA Documentation Structure Conference Venue: Marina Mandarin, Singapore
Thursday, 4th March	Understanding the ISDA Master Agreements Conference Venue: The Westin Chosun, Seoul, South Korea
Friday, 5th March	Understanding Collateral Arrangements and the ISDA Credit Support Documents Conference Venue: The Westin Chosun, Seoul, South Korea
Tuesday, 9th March	Understanding the ISDA Master Agreements Conference Venue: Pacific Place Conference Center, Hong Kong
Wednesday, 10th March	Understanding Collateral Arrangements and the ISDA Credit Support Documents Conference Venue: Pacific Place Conference Center, Hong Kong
Thursday, 18th March	Understanding the ISDA Master Agreements Conference Venue: Marina Mandarin, Singapore
Friday, 19th March	Understanding Collateral Arrangements and the ISDA Credit Support Documents Conference Venue: Marina Mandarin, Singapore
Wednesday, 12th May	ISDA/ IIFM Islamic Master Agreement Conference Venue: Shangri-La, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Friday, 14th May	ISDA/ IIFM Islamic Master Agreement Conference Venue: Shangri-La, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tuesday, 18th May	Understanding the ISDA Master Agreements Conference Venue: InterContinental Sydney, Australia
Wednesday, 19th May	Understanding Collateral Arrangements and the ISDA Credit Support Documents Conference Venue: InterContinental Sydney, Australia
Wednesday, 2nd June	Understanding the ISDA Master Agreements Conference Venue: Grand Formosa Regent, Taipei, Taiwan
Thursday, 3rd June	Understanding Collateral Arrangements and the ISDA Credit Support Documents Conference Venue: Grand Formosa Regent, Taipei, Taiwan
Tuesday, 22nd June	Understanding the ISDA Master Agreements Conference Venue: Grand Hyatt Shanghai, China
Wednesday, 23rd June	Understanding Collateral Arrangements and the ISDA Credit Support Documents Conference Venue: Grand Hyatt Shanghai, China
Thursday, 22nd July	ISDA/ IIFM Islamic Master Agreement Conference Venue: Pacific Place Conference Center, Hong Kong
Wednesday, 4th August	Understanding the ISDA Master Agreements Conference Venue: The Westin Beijing, Financial Street, Beijing, China
Thursday, 5th August	Understanding Collateral Arrangements and the ISDA Credit Support Documents Conference Venue: The Westin Beijing, Financial Street, Beijing, China
Monday, 16th August	Understanding the ISDA Master Agreements Conference Venue: Marina Mandarin, Singapore
Tuesday, 17th August	Understanding Collateral Arrangements and the ISDA Credit Support Documents Conference Venue: Marina Mandarin, Singapore
Wednesday, 18th August	Documenting and Confirming Rate and FX and Currency Option Transactions Conference Venue: Marina Mandarin, Singapore
Tuesday, 7th September	Understanding the ISDA Master Agreements Conference Venue: Pacific Place Conference Center, Hong Kong
Wednesday, 8th September	Understanding Collateral Arrangements and the ISDA Credit Support Documents Conference Venue: Pacific Place Conference Center, Hong Kong
Thursday, 21st October	ISDA Regional Conference Venue: Sydney, Australia
Monday, 25th October	ISDA Regional Conference Venue: Hong Kong

For more information on ISDA conferences, please click here. If you are interested in receiving further information or registering for any of these committees, please contact ISDA’s Office in Singapore (Telephone: (65) 6538 3879; Email: isdaap@isda.org)