Key Focus of ISDA AGM 2009

New York, Monday, April 13, 2009 – In the past week, ISDA’s ‘Big Bang’ Protocol was completed to widespread acclaim from industry and regulators. The move underscores the Association’s commitment to further strengthen and improve the industry’s infrastructure, enhance operational efficiencies and reduce risk in the derivatives business. These ongoing initiatives will be a key focus of ISDA's 24th Annual General Meeting (AGM 2009) in Beijing later this month.

"It's not often we get an opportunity to shape the industry so significantly and so beneficially in a single step, but that's exactly what Big Bang has achieved,” said Eraj Shirvani, ISDA Chairman and Head of Fixed Income for EMEA at Credit Suisse. “Bob Pickel and the ISDA team continue to do an outstanding job in helping to strengthen the privately negotiated derivatives business and infrastructure. AGM 2009 will focus on continuing this excellent work.”

“Key initiatives such as Big Bang demonstrate ISDA’s critical role in spearheading progress and improvements in the industry," said Michele Faissola, ISDA Vice Chairman and Global Head of Rates, Global Markets Division, Deutsche Bank. “We look forward to productive AGM discussions around next steps for the industry and how ISDA can best achieve those.”

“Continued sound development of CDS benefits its many users globally and will help the industry support economic recovery," said Robert Pickel, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, ISDA. "The successful implementation of Big Bang is an encouraging forerunner to the industry’s annual forum and is just part of the ongoing improvements we will focus on at AGM 2009.”

AGM 2009 will address industry initiatives and implications, and will feature leading business and public policy exponents.

Keynote addresses will be delivered by:

Yi Gang, Deputy Governor, The People's Bank of China
Robert E. Diamond Jr., President, Barclays PLC
Liu Mingkang, Chairman, China Banking Regulatory Commission

Plenary sessions will feature:

Regional Perspectives on Asia’s Financial Markets and Derivatives Activity; Sir David Wright, Vice Chairman, Barclays Capital, leads a panel of senior industry executives spanning the Asia region in examining business considerations and the outlook for the finance and derivatives industry in Asia.

Global Derivatives Business Issues; Dixit Joshi, ISDA Board Member, Head of Equities, EMEA and Asia Pacific, Barclays Capital, moderates a panel of senior industry executives from buy- and sell-side in discussions spanning a range of asset classes and global constituencies.

Optimizing the Derivatives Industry's Infrastructure; Stephen O'Connor, ISDA Board Member, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley, leads a panel of senior regulatory and industry figures representing various disciplines in addressing the status of infrastructural developments and initiatives.

Current Perspectives on the Credit Default Swaps Business; George Handjinicolaou, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, ISDA, moderates views among senior buy- and sell-side representatives on the global CDS business and the outlook for current initiatives in the CDS industry.

Global Public Policy Issues; Greg Zerzan, Counsel and Head of Global Public Policy, ISDA, leads a discussion among senior figures from industry and supervisory authorities on the current regulatory and supervisory landscape and considerations for navigating the way forward.

ISDA's Role in Enhancing Financial Stability Through Effective Counterparty Risk Management; Richard Metcalfe, Global Head of Policy, ISDA, heads a panel discussion of senior industry representatives addressing counterparty risk and ISDA’s role in maintaining legal certainty and stability.

Specialist sessions will feature two panel discussions on Documentation and Legal initiatives; moderated by David Geen, General Counsel, ISDA, and by Katherine Tew Darras, General Counsel, Americas, ISDA. These panels will examine ISDA’s projects, plans and accomplishments across the scope of derivative products, regions and disciplines.

Further specialist sessions focus on Operations & Collateral, Risk Management, Central Counterparties and Developments in China. A full agenda is available from the Association’s home page (www.isda.org) or directly at:

https://www.isdadocs.org/conf/AGM2009/agm2009agenda.html

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 and Derivatives Association, Inc.