Amendments - ISDA Provision
ISDA Anatomy™
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To lookouts here. One: according to her majesty’s judiciary, email does not count as an electronic messaging system. Let your klaxons blare. It seems absurd at first glance — Jolly Contrarian would say it seems absurd having read the whole judgment in Greenclose v National Westminster Bank plc — but there it is: that is the law of the land at the time of writing.
This might not so much matter were it not for the second point. In another spectacular outing for her majesty's judiciary[1], they recently found that a “no oral modification” clause is effective in law. This probably makes sense if you are sitting in a law library, or judicial chambers, contemplating the eternal verities, but it makes none if you are managing the cut and thrust of daily contract management. That said, most financial institutions have an industrial complex covering the negotiation of ISDA Master Agreements and other trading contracts, so a formal amendment is not likely to pass with copperplate script execution. But waivers — especially when your credit department is in the thrall of setting NAV triggers it doesn’t monitor and isn’t likely to to exercise — are a different story.
Waivers are a pain in the posterior.
See also
- Greenclose v National Westminster Bank plc, on whether email is an electronic messaging system;
- Rock Advertising Limited v MWB Business Exchange Centres Limited on whether one can orally amend a contract with a “no oral modification” clause