ISDA®
INTERNATIONAL
SWAPS AND DERIVATIVES ASSOCIATION, INC.
NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release, Sunday, September 14,
2008
For More Information, Please Contact:
Louise Marshall, ISDA New York, 212-901-6014, lmarshall@isda.org
Cesaltine Gregorio, ISDA New York, 212 901 6019, cgregorio@isda.org
Lehman Risk Reduction Trading Session and Protocol Agreement
Further to the earlier announcement outlining an
extraordinary trading session established by market participants to reduce
their counterparty exposures to Lehman Brothers, ISDA has made the following
statement:
"This exercise is designed to mitigate counterparty credit risk through
the establishment of offsetting positions with other market participants,"
said Robert Pickel, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, ISDA.
"ISDA is pleased to play a part in the continued efforts of the marketplace
to manage market, credit and operational risk in the testing times that have
arisen in the financial markets over the course of the past year. We are
confident that the risk mitigation provisions, most notably netting and
collateral, that are legally enforceable under the ISDA Master Agreement, would
play a significant role in the orderly resolution of the failure of any major
counterparty, as it has in past examples of this."
The special trading session is taking place on Sunday September 14 for OTC derivatives.
The purpose of the session is to permit parties to reduce their market risk
associated with a potential Lehman Brothers Holding Inc. bankruptcy filing, by
entering into transactions with other participants that would fully or
partially offset OTC derivatives positions that they have with Lehman. Product
classes involved are credit, equity, rates, FX and
commodity derivatives.
Transactions entered into during this session are entered into on the basis
that their effectiveness is contingent on a bankruptcy filing of Lehman
Brothers Holding Inc. at or before 11:59 pm New York time, Sunday, September
14, 2008 and that if there is no such filing, they will not come into
existence. This agreement is memorialized in a Protocol Agreement, the Conditional
Transactions Protocol Agreement, which is available on the ISDA website (www.isda.org). In order for the Protocol
Agreement to be effective with respect to a Transaction, the Confirmation
(paper or electronic) for that Transaction must indicate that it is entered
into subject to this Protocol Agreement (which may be referred to for such
purposes as the “Lehman Effectiveness Protocol”).
The Protocol Agreement also covers cash market transactions
that are associated with covered derivatives transactions.
Firms that are participating in the trading session should execute the Protocol
Agreement and return it to Mark New at ISDA (mnew@isda.org) with
LEHMAN PROTOCOL in the subject line. ISDA will post a list of parties that have
executed the Protocol Agreement.
If your firm did not participate in the trading session you should not sign the
Protocol Agreement.
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 850
member institutions from 56 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.