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, Pakistan, 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 Collateral Committee

The Asia-Pacific Collateral Committee focuses on policy issues in relation to the increasingly widespread use of collateral as a credit risk management tool in connection with privately negotiated derivatives. The goal of the Asia-Pacific Collateral Committee is to promote the use of collateralization to identify and resolve problems in collateral management that may be specific to the region and to discuss market practice in regard to collateral practices.

The Asia-Pacific Collateral Committee consists of active members based in the Asia-Pacific region.

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, Lehman Brothers

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.

Asia-Pacific Operations Committee

The Asia-Pacific Operations Committee focuses on back-office related issues, such as confirmation processing, automation, the use of ISDA Definitions and other operational issues surrounding new products. This committee is a subgroup of the ISDA's global Operations Committee and follows the developments in Europe and North America. The Asia-Pacific Operations Committee serves as a platform for Asia-Pacific members to discuss regional issues and also focuses on educational efforts within the Asia-Pacific region.

The Asia-Pacific Operations Committee is co-chaired as follows:

• Asia-Pacific Operations Committee - Hong Kong
  Co-Chair: Mandy Chan, Senior Manager, Structured Rates, Credit and FX Derivatives Operations, The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited
  
  
• Asia-Pacific Operations Committee - Singapore
  Co-Chair: Sheila Thangavelu, Executive Director, Operations, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Asia (Singapore) Pte
  
  
  • Asia-Pacific FpML Working Group
    The Asia Pacific Financial products Mark-up Language (“FpML”) Working Group consists of mainly operations professionals. This working group aims at promoting the awareness of FpML and encourages more institutions to automate their operation and settlement process by using FpML. See also: http://www.fpml.org

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 - India Working Group
  
  
• Asia-Pacific - Korea Working Group
  
  
• Asia-Pacific - PRC 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)
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 – 2007 Conferences and Seminars in the Asia-Pacific region:

2008 Conferences and Seminars in the Asia-Pacific region (schedule subject to change):

Date	Events
Tuesday, 22nd January	Fundamentals of Derivatives Seminar Venue: Conrad International, Hong Kong
Wednesday, 23rd January	Understanding the ISDA Master Agreements Conference Venue: Conrad International, Hong Kong
Monday, 10th March	Fundamentals of Derivatives Seminar Venue: Marina Mandarin, Singapore
Tuesday, 11th March	Understanding the ISDA Master Agreements Conference Venue: Marina Mandarin, Singapore
Thursday, 13th March	Fundamentals of Equity Derivatives Seminar Venue: Pacific Place Conference Center, Hong Kong
Friday, 14th March	Documenting and Confirming Equity Derivative Transactions Conference: The Equity Derivatives Specialist Venue: Pacific Place Conference Center, Hong Kong
Monday, 17th March	Documenting and Confirming Equity Derivative Transactions Conference: The Equity Derivatives Specialist Venue: The Westin, Sydney, Australia
Tuesday, 20th May	Understanding the ISDA Master Agreements Conference Venue: The Westin, Sydney, Australia
Wednesday, 21st May	Critical Legal Issues to Support Risk Management and Collateral Arrangement in OTC Derivatives Contracts Seminar Venue: Intercontinental Beijing Financial Street, Beijing, China
Monday, 9th June	Introduction to Operations Training Course Venue: Marina Mandarin, Singapore
Wednesday, 11th June	Fundamentals of Derivatives Seminar Venue: Shangri-La, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Thursday, 12th June	Understanding the ISDA Master Agreements Conference Venue: Shangri-La, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tuesday, 24th June	Fundamentals of Derivatives Seminar Venue: Grand Formosa Regent, Taipei, Taiwan
Wednesday, 25th June	Understanding the ISDA Master Agreements Conference Venue: Grand Formosa Regent, Taipei, Taiwan
Tuesday, 8th July	Fundamentals of Derivatives Seminar Venue: Grand Hyatt, Shanghai, China
Wednesday, 9th July	Understanding the ISDA Master Agreements Conference Venue: Grand Hyatt, Shanghai, China
Thursday, 5th August	Fundamentals of Commodity Derivatives Seminar Venue: Singapore
Wednesday, 6th August	Credit Derivatives Conference Venue: Singapore
Wednesday, 10th September	Fundamentals of Derivatives Seminar Venue: Beijing, China
Thursday, 11th September	ISDA Documentation Conference Venue: Beijing, China
Thursday, 16th October	Regional Conference Venue: Sydney, Australia
Friday, 17th October	Operations Training Course Venue: Sydney, Australia
Monday, 20th October	Fundamentals of Derivatives Seminar Venue: Conrad International, Hong Kong
Tuesday, 21st October	Understanding the ISDA Master Agreements Conference Venue: Conrad International, Hong Kong
Tuesday, 25th November	Fundamentals of Derivatives Seminar Venue: Singapore
Wednesday, 26th November	Understanding the ISDA Master Agreements Conference Venue: Singapore
Tuesday, 9th December	Fundamentals of Derivatives Seminar Venue: Mumbai, India
Wednesday, 10th December	Understanding the ISDA Master Agreements Conference Venue: Mumbai, India

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; Fax: (65) 6538 6942; Email: isdaap@isda.org)