ISDA®
INTERNATIONAL
SWAPS AND DERIVATIVES ASSOCIATION, INC.
NEWS
RELEASE
For Immediate Release, Wednesday, August
25, 2010
For More Information, Please
Contact:
Cesaltine Gregorio, ISDA New York,
+1 212-901-6019, cgregorio@isda.org
Deirdre
Leahy, ISDA New York, +1 212-901-6021, dleahy@isda.org
Donna Chan, ISDA Hong Kong, +852
2200 5906, dchan@isda.org
Rebecca O'Neill, ISDA London, +44 203 088 3586, roneill@isda.org
ISDA Streamlines Credit Derivative Novation Process
NEW YORK, Wednesday, August 25, 2010
– The International
Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) announced that it will further
streamline the process of novating or assigning credit derivative trades by way
of its 'Credit Consent Equals Confirmation' project. As a key measure in this
initiative, ISDA today published Additional Provisions for Consent to, and
Confirmation of, Transfer by Novation of OTC Derivative Transactions. The overall
objective of the project is to rationalize the current two-step practice of
consent followed by confirmation, with an automated, single-step process for
parties to provide their consent and their legal confirmation to a novation simultaneously.
“The credit derivative industry has made a series of improvements
to the operational processing of novations over the past several years,
including the landmark ISDA Novation Protocol,” said
Robert
Pickel, Executive Vice Chairman, ISDA. “The result of the Consent Equals Confirmation initiative will be an
enhanced automated process that will improve accuracy and facilitate same-day
processing, thereby reducing risk and the necessary degree of resourcing. It is
the culmination of collaborative industry efforts to further streamline transaction processing and advance operational standards.”
The Additional
Provisions, which amend the rules in the ISDA Novation Protocol, allow these
operational changes to take effect without requiring parties to re-adhere to
the Novation Protocol.
In a series of
commitments to international regulators, the industry undertook to significantly
improve novations processing such that the action of consent for eligible
trades would achieve a valid legal confirmation.
The
Credit Consent Equals Confirmation process will go live on September 30, 2010. The
Additional Provisions, Business Requirements and Best Practices document will
be made available on the ISDA website, www.isda.org.
About ISDA
ISDA, which represents participants
in the privately negotiated derivatives industry, is among the world’s largest
global financial trade associations as measured by number of member firms. ISDA
was chartered in 1985, and today has over 820 member institutions from 57
countries on six continents. These members include most of the world’s major
institutions that deal in privately negotiated derivatives, as well as many of
the businesses, governmental entities and other end users that rely on
over-the-counter derivatives to manage efficiently the financial market risks
inherent in their core economic activities. Information about ISDA and
its activities is available on the Association's web site: www.isda.org.
ISDA®
is a registered trademark of the International Swaps &
Derivatives Association, Inc.