At the request of members of the ISDA Equity Working Groups, ISDA has launched the 2023 ISDA Equity Swap Protocol (the “Protocol”) on October 30, 2023, allowing adhering parties to incorporate the 2021 ISDA Interest Rate Derivatives Definitions (the “2021 Definitions”) to relevant Equity Swap documentation.
Parties can adhere to the Protocol by visiting the ISDA website.
Attached to this page is the following material, which may be updated from time to time:
- The ISDA 2023 Equity Swap – 2021 Definitions Protocol text, published on October 2, 2023;
- The ISDA 2023 Equity Swap – 2021 Definitions Protocol FAQs,
- An FAQs document on this initiative;
- An ISDA letter that dealer institutions can provide to their clients as part of the outreach process;
- The Protocol adherence instructions document.
The Protocol effective date occurred on March 18, 2024, and parties are able to continue to adhere to the Protocol after this date.
For any questions, members can email ISDA Market Infrastructure and Technology (MarketInfrastructureandTechnology@isda.org).
Documents (5) for ISDA Equity Swap Protocol – 2021 Definitions
- ISDA 2023 Equity Swap – 2021 Definitions Protocol – Text(pdf) will open in a new tab or window
- ISDA 2023 Equity Swap – 2021 Definitions Protocol – FAQs(pdf) will open in a new tab or window
- ISDA 2023 Equity Swap Protocol Initiative FAQs 103023(pdf) will open in a new tab or window
- Letter from ISDA re 2021 Definitions (Client pack) - Equity Swaps 103023(pdf) will open in a new tab or window
- ISDA 2023 Equity Swap Protocol Adherence Instructions(docx) will open in a new tab or window
Latest
ISDA Response to HMT, BoE on UK CCPs
On November 18, ISDA submitted its responses to the Bank of England (BoE) consultation on ensuring the resilience of central counterparties (CCPs) and the UK Treasury’s (HMT) two draft CCP statutory instruments (SIs). These consultations form part of the update...
Doubling Down on Appropriate Trading Book Capital
Throughout ISDA’s 40th anniversary year, we’ve been reflecting on the quest for greater consistency and efficiency that underpins everything we’ve achieved since 1985. It was at the heart of the original efforts to bring greater standardization to the nascent derivatives...
Determining Initial Reference Index for New Trades
On November 25, 2025, ISDA published a Market Practice Note (MPN) to recommend a specific methodology that market participants could elect to use for the purposes of determining the Initial Reference Index for certain new inflation derivative transactions given that...
ISDA Response to FCA on Fund Tokenization
On November 21, ISDA responded to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) consultation paper CP25/28 on progressing fund tokenization. In the response, ISDA focuses on the use of tokenized assets as both cleared and non-cleared derivatives collateral. Tokenization presents a significant...
