Exposure - VM CSA Provision

2016 VM CSA Anatomy™ →Go uptown In a Nutshell™ Section Exposure: A party’s “Exposure” means the amount it would pay (a positive Exposure) or receive (a negative Exposure) if all Covered Transactions other than this Credit Support Annex were terminated as at the Valuation Time following a Termination Event where the other party was the One Affected Party, the Base Currency was the Termination Currency and the Valuation Agent made the valuations on the party’s behalf using mid-market estimates of the amounts that would be required under the ISDA Master Agreement. view template 2016 VM CSA full text of Section Exposure: “Exposure” means, unless otherwise specified in Paragraph 11 for any Valuation Date or other date for which Exposure is calculated and subject to Paragraph 4 in the case of a dispute: (i) if this Agreement is a 1992 ISDA Master Agreement, the amount, if any, that would be payable to that party by the other party (expressed as a positive number) or by that party to the other party (expressed as a negative number) pursuant to Section 6(e)(ii)(1) of this Agreement if all Covered Transactions (other than the Transaction constituted by this Annex) were being terminated as of the relevant Valuation Time on the basis that (A) that party is not the Affected Party and (B) the Base Currency is the Termination Currency; provided that Market Quotations will be determined by the Valuation Agent on behalf of that party using its estimates at mid-market of the amounts that would be paid for Replacement Transactions (as that term is defined in the definition of “Market Quotation”); and (ii) if this Agreement is an ISDA 2002 Master Agreement or a 1992 ISDA Master Agreement in which the definition of Loss and/or Market Quotation has been amended (including where such amendment has occurred pursuant to the terms of a separate agreement or protocol) to reflect the definition of Close-out Amount from the pre-printed form of the ISDA 2002 Master Agreement as published by ISDA, the amount, if any, that would be payable to that party by the other party (expressed as a positive number) or by that party to the other party (expressed as a negative number) pursuant to Section 6(e)(ii)(1) (but without reference to clause (3) of Section 6(e)(ii)) of this Agreement as if all Covered Transactions (other than the Transactions constituted by this Annex) were being terminated as of the relevant Valuation Time on the basis that (A) that party is not the Affected Party and (B) the Base Currency is the Termination Currency; provided that the Close-out Amount will be determined by the Valuation Agent on behalf of that party using its estimates at mid-market of the amounts that would be paid for transactions providing the economic equivalent of (X) the material terms of the Covered Transactions, including the payments and deliveries by the parties under Section 2(a)(i) in respect of the Covered Transactions that would, but for the occurrence of the relevant Early Termination Date, have been required after that date (assuming satisfaction of the conditions precedent in Section 2(a)(iii) of this Agreement); and (Y) the option rights of the parties in respect of the Covered Transactions. view template Related Agreements Click here for the text of Section Exposure in the 1995 English Law CSA Click here for the text of Section Exposure in the 2016 English Law VM CSA Click here for the text of the equivalent, Section Exposure in the 2016 NY Law VM CSA Comparisons 1995 CSA and 2016 VM CSA: click for comparison 2016 VM CSA and 2016 NY Law VM CSA: click for comparison Resources Full wikitext | Nutshell wikitext Navigation 1 (Interpretation) | 2 (Credit Support Obligations) | 3 (Transfers, Calculations and Exchanges) | 4 (Dispute Resolution) | 5 (Title Transfer etc) | 6 (Default) | 7 (Representation) | 8 (Expenses) | 9 (Miscellaneous) | 10 (Definitions) | 11 (Elections and Variables) Index: Click ᐅ to expand: 2016 VM CSA 2018 CSD 1995 CSA Tell me more Sign up for our newsletter — or just get in touch: for ½ a weekly 🍺 you get to consult JC. Ask about it here.

Differences between versions

The difference between the two versions of English law CSA (see link in box for comparison) is that the 1995 CSA assumes you are trading under a 1992 ISDA, using the Market Quotation valuation technique — which kind of figures, since the 2002 ISDA with its Close-out Amount methodology hadn’t then been invented — whereas the 2016 VM CSA version contemplates you having a either a 1992 ISDA or a 2002 ISDA and provides for them in the alternative.

The 2016 NY Law VM CSA tracks the 2016 VM CSA closely with two curious exceptions: Firstly, when imagining its hypothetical termination of all Transactions it doesn’t explicitly carve out the Transaction constituted by the 2016 NY Law VM CSA itself — which is odd, because if you were treating it as a Transaction to be hypothetically included, you necessarily get a value of zero, since its value should be the exact negative of whatever the net mark-to-market value of all the other Transactions are — and secondly it does not hypothetically suppose that the Secured Party is the Unaffected Party, thereby getting to be in the driver’s seat when constructing the necessary valuations.

The reason you don’t have to except a 2016 NY Law VM CSA from hypothetical termination is buried deep in its earthen ontological root system. Are you ready?

Deep ontological differences between NY and English law versions

Unlike a title transfer English law CSA which is expressed to be a Transaction under the ISDA Master Agreement, the 2016 NY Law VM CSA is not: it is instead a “Credit Support Document”: a standalone collateral arrangement that stands aloof and apart from the ISDA Master Agreement and all its little diabolical Transactions. The reason for this is — spoiler: it’s not a very good one — because while a English law CSA, by being a title transfer collateral arrangement, necessarily reverses the indebtedness between the parties outright, an 2016 NY Law VM CSA (and, for that matter, an English law English law CSD) does not: it only provides a security interest. The in-the-money counterparty is still in-the-money. It is just secured for that exposure. The outright exposure between the parties does not change as a result of the pledge of credit support.

This is magical, bamboozling stuff — deep ISDA lore — and, at least where rehypothecation is allowed under Paragraph 6(c) of a 2016 NY Law VM CSA — it pretty much always is — it serves no real purpose, because even though you say you are only pledging the collateral, in the the greasy light of commercial reality, from the moment the Secured Party rehypothecates your pledged assets away into the market, dear Pledgor you have transferred your title outright.

Calculating your 2016 VM CSA

Superficially things are quite different between the 1995 CSA and the 2016 VM CSA, but this all boils down to the fact that the 2016 VM CSA is meant to be a zero-threshold, variation margin-only affair, so the concepts of Independent Amount and Threshold, both of which confuse the 1995 CSA, aren’t there to get in the way. Unless you go and put them in anyway, as we shall see...

1995 CSA

How the IA contributes to the Credit Support Amount — being the amount of credit support in total that one party must have given the other at any time under the 1995 CSA can be mind-boggling.

It pans out for a Transferee like so:

• The Transferee’s Exposure: the net mark-to-market value the Transferor would owe the Transferee under all outstanding Transactions if they were closed out (not counting, of course, the 1995 CSA itself). Call this E_Tee.
• The Transferor’s Independent Amount: The total Independent Amount Transferor must give the Transferee we will call IA_Tor. You can add this to the Transferee’s Exposure, but then you must remember to deduct ...
• The Transferee’s Independent Amount: Any Independent Amount the Transferee has to pay the Transferor. Call this IA_Tee. . Lastly don’t forget to take into account ...
• The Transferor’s Threshold: Any Threshold that applies to the Transferor being the Exposure it is allowed to represent before it has to post variation margin in the first place.
  

This leaves you with a formula for a Transferee’s Credit Support Amount as follows: Max[0, (E_Tee + IA_Tor - IA_Tee + Threshold)].

Let’s plug in some numbers. Say:

• The Transferee’s Exposure is 10,000,000
• The Transferor’s Independent Amount IA_Tor is 2,000,000
• The Transferee’s Independent Amount IA_Tee is 0
• The Transferor’s Threshold is 5,000,000

Your Credit Support Amount is therefore the greater of zero and 10,000,000 + 2,000,000 - 0 + 5,000,000) = 7,000,000.

Now, whether you have to pay anything or receive anything as a result — whether there is a Delivery Amount or a Return Amount, in other words — depends whether your Credit Support Amount is greater or smaller than your prevailing Credit Support Balance, by at least the Minimum Transfer Amount.

2016 VM CSA with no IA amendment

Since the 2016 VM CSA assumes there is no Independent Amounts and no Thresholds, it is quite a lot easier. It is just the Exposure. So much so, that there isn’t even a concept of the “Credit Support Amount” under the 2016 VM CSA, unless you have retrofitted one, and who in their right mind would do that?

Oh.

You have, haven’t you. You’ve gone and co-opted the Credit Support Amount (VM/IA) concept in your Paragraph 11 elections. Yes you did. No, don’t blame your credit department; don’t say you were just following orders. You did it.

2016 VM CSA with a customised IA amendment

Never mind. Well, just for you, the formula is a sort of half-way house: Under this unholy bastardisation of a 2016 VM CSA, a Transferee’s Credit Support Amount will be: Max[0, (E_Tee + IA_Tor - IA_Tee)].