On October 23, ISDA launched a supplement that will amend its standard definitions for interest rate derivatives to incorporate robust fallbacks for new IBOR derivatives entered into from January 25, 2021. From that date, all new cleared and non-cleared derivatives that reference the definitions will include the fallbacks.
Simultaneously, ISDA launched the IBOR Fallbacks Protocol, which enables firms to incorporate the fallbacks into their legacy non-cleared derivatives trades with other counterparties that adhere to the protocol. Those changes will also become effective on January 25.
More than a thousand entities have so far adhered to the protocol, but there are some misunderstandings about what the fallbacks are meant to do. Katherine Tew Darras, ISDA’s general counsel, helps explain some of those misperceptions.
If you can’t access the YouTube video above, please click here (best viewed in Chrome).
Latest
ISDA In Review – August 2026
A compendium of links to new documents, research papers, press releases and comment letters published by ISDA in August 2026.
Remove Bureaucracy from Cross-margin Approvals
Cross-margining programs play a critical role in financial markets. By ensuring margin requirements more closely reflect the actual risk of a portfolio of products, they reduce liquidity strain and improve market efficiency, both of which will become even more important...
Joint Response on CCP Resolution
On September 7, ISDA and FIA responded to a Bank of England (BOE) discussion paper on central counterparty (CCP) resolution. The associations support greater clarity on valuation capabilities prior to a crisis scenario and the boundary between recovery and resolution,...
Expanding Legal Agreement Coverage in the CDM
This paper examines the recent extension of the Common Domain Model (CDM)1 to represent two of the most significant, and previously undeveloped, areas of its legal agreement model: umbrella agreements and contract amendments. Umbrella agreements are widely used to document...