ISDA®
INTERNATIONAL SWAPS AND DERIVATIVES ASSOCIATION, INC

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release, Thursday, March 27, 2008

For More Information, Please Contact:

Louise Marshall, ISDA New York, 212-901-6014

Industry submits new operational goals to regulators;

ISDA activates process towards hardwiring settlement mechanism

NEW YORK, Thursday, March 27, 2008: The Operations Management Group (OMG) today submitted to Timothy Geithner, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, its latest set of goals for strengthening operational efficiency across privately negotiated credit and equity derivatives products.

Consistent with ISDA’s primary purpose, to encourage the prudent and efficient development of the privately negotiated derivatives business via the continued standardization of documentation, promotion of sound risk management practices and education of the marketplace, ISDA endorses the commitments and expectations outlined by the industry in its latest letter. In support of these minimum operating standards, ISDA will work with market participants to achieve a more fully automated and scalable marketplace.

Further, ISDA and its membership have been discussing the incorporation of ISDA's off-the-shelf credit derivative settlement auction mechanism into ISDA documentation and ISDA has activated a process towards achieving that incorporation where appropriate (a process which has been commonly referred to as “hardwiring” into the ISDA documentation). ISDA has committed to review with supervisors in May 2008 the industry’s status on this matter and a timetable for next steps in the effort.

“ISDA is pleased to be a part of the industry effort to improve operational efficiency,” said Robert Pickel, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, ISDA. “In particular we look forward to working with our members and the broader industry as we proceed with the hardwiring of the auction mechanism into the ISDA documentation.”

ISDA has organized nine protocols and auctions for the settlement of credit derivative contracts. The most recent auction, the results of which were used to settle single name, index and bespoke portfolio trades, had the highest number of adherents of any auction to date.

The signatories to today's letter support ISDA’s efforts to strengthen credit event management across the industry and agree that they will actively participate in the process outlined above.

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 approximately 810 member institutions from 55 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.

The Operations Management Group (OMG)
The OMG is a senior industry leadership group comprised of OTC derivatives operations professionals from the buy-side and the sell-side, as well as ISDA, the MFA and the AMG of SIFMA. The OMG’s general mission is to examine and effect fundamental change in current front-to-back processes for all over-the-counter derivative products.

^®ISDA is a registered trademark of the International Swaps & Derivatives Association, Inc.