The proposed ISDA Notices Hub would be an online platform designed to provide market participants with a faster, safer and more efficient method for delivering and receiving critical notices under ISDA and other Master Agreements.

 

Key Benefits

Just a small delay in the delivery of a termination notice – for example, from Friday afternoon to Monday morning – on a single medium-size derivatives portfolio with $10 million of initial margin could result in an uncollateralized loss of $1 million*. That’s on top of the additional resource costs associated with conventional delivery methods, including paying a law firm to deliver the notice.

The ISDA Notices Hub will allow the instantaneous delivery and receipt of these notices, reducing the risk exposure and potential losses arising from a delay.

 

*Based on a 99% value-at-risk calculation assuming an outright non-cleared derivatives portfolio with $10 million of initial margin.

 

Contact

For further information on the ISDA Notices Hub, please contact NoticesHub@isda.org.

 

About ISDA Notices Hub

The ISDA Master Agreement stipulates that termination-related notices must be delivered by certain prescribed methods, using the company address details listed in the agreement. But challenges and delays can arise if the company has moved and the ISDA Master Agreement hasn’t been updated with the new details.

The pandemic created other challenges. With so many offices located in areas subject to lockdown requirements, it became difficult for firms to deliver notices, as well as know if they had received any. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to similar issues – it may be challenging to deliver notices to the listed address if it’s in a hostile environment.

ISDA is now exploring the potential for an industry solution to solve these issues. The ISDA Notices Hub would act as a central platform for firms to deliver notices, with automatic alerts sent to the receiving entity. Multiple designated people at each firm would be able to access the hub from anywhere in the world, regardless of the situation at its physical location.

The ISDA Notices Hub will be available via S&P Global Market Intelligence’s Counterparty Manager platform, with a target launch date of the first quarter of 2025.

In 2024, ISDA will seek commitments from dealers and large buy-side entities to adopt the ISDA Notices Hub and help with client outreach. This is meant to ensure there is sufficiently wide adoption to justify the time, money and resources required to develop the ISDA Notices Hub. In the absence of these commitments, it is unlikely that ISDA and S&P Global Market Intelligence will proceed with the project.

 

Features

  • Instant delivery: The ISDA Notices Hub will allow the instantaneous delivery and receipt of critical termination-related notices on a highly secure, confidential and robust online platform.
  • Resolves challenges with traditional methods of delivery: It will function even when there are issues that would hamper traditional methods of delivering notices, including pandemic lockdowns, hostile activities, stale notice addresses and difficulties relying on emerging local infrastructure.
  • Evidence of the time of delivery: The ISDA Notices Hub will time and date stamp delivered notices for use in legal proceedings, and provide auditable evidence that notices have not changed since issuance.
  • Keep physical notice details up to date: The ISDA Notices Hub will provide a golden source of physical notice details for all counterparties using the service, validated via periodic verification requests. Parties will be able to amend the details of all their Master Agreements with a single entry on the ISDA Notices Hub, ensuring current contact information is available when needed.
  • Quality user experience: The platform is being designed with all kinds of users in mind. They will benefit from a light-touch onboarding process and intuitive platform design with 24/7 customer support.
  • Seamless integration with ISDA Create: Notices drafted on ISDA Create will flow directly to the ISDA Notices Hub. A new suite of notice templates will be added to ISDA Create.

 

Coverage

The ISDA Notices Hub will initially cover termination notices under the ISDA Master Agreement, but additional functionality could be added over time, including termination notices under non-ISDA master agreements and notices under other ISDA documents (such as fund net asset value reports).

 

Letter from ISDA’s CEO

 

Fact Sheets/Presentations

 

Legal Resources

 

Press Releases/Blogs

 

Working Group Call Recordings (Available to ISDA members only)

  • January 25, 2024 (APAC working group call re: request for feedback on the indicative written specification)