Default - CSA Provision

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ISDA 1995 English Law Credit Support Annex


In a Nutshell Section 6:

Paragraph 6. Default.
If there is an Early Termination Date following an Event of Default on a party the Credit Support Balance, determined as if the Early Termination Date were a Valuation Date, will be an Unpaid Amount owed to the Transferor under Section 6(e). For the avoidance of doubt, if Market Quotation applies then the Market Quotation for the Transaction constituted by this Annex will be zero; if Loss applies, the Loss for the Transaction will be just the Unpaid Amount representing the Credit Support Balance.
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1995 CSA full text of Section 6:

Paragraph 6. Default.
If an Early Termination Date is designated or deemed to occur as a result of an Event of Default in relation to a party, an amount equal to the Value of the Credit Support Balance, determined as though the Early Termination Date were a Valuation Date, will be deemed to be an Unpaid Amount due to the Transferor (which may or may not be the Defaulting Party) for purposes of Section 6(e). For the avoidance of doubt, if Market Quotation is the applicable payment measure for purposes of Section 6(e), then the Market Quotation determined under Section 6(e) in relation to the Transaction constituted by this Annex will be deemed to be zero, and, if Loss is the applicable payment measure for purposes of Section 6(e), then the Loss determined under Section 6(e) in relation to the Transaction will be limited to the Unpaid Amount representing the Value of the Credit Support Balance.
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Related Agreements
Click here for the text of Section 6 in the 1995 English Law CSA
Click here for the text of Section 6 in the 2016 English Law VM CSA
Click [[{{{3}}} - NY VM CSA Provision|here]] for the text of the equivalent, Section [[{{{3}}} - NY VM CSA Provision|{{{3}}}]] in the 2016 NY Law VM CSA
Comparisons
1995 CSA and 2016 VM CSA: click for comparison
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Why Unpaid Amounts and not Close-out Amounts?

The 1995 CSA is technically a Transaction under the ISDA Master Agreement in its own right — that is deep ISDA lore — but it is still a weird Transaction, and the standard “replacement cost” method of valuation doesn’t work brilliantly: rather than having defined payments upfront, each of which can be valued and discounted back to now to reveal a present value, payment obligations under a 1995 CSA depend on the future performance of the other Transactions in the portfolio under your ISDA Master Agreement. So good luck determining the replacement value of something like that.

But the good news is you don’t have to: the Credit Support Balance isn’t calculated by reference to its own discounted future cashflows: rather, it is just the inverse of the aggregate present value of all the other Transactions under the ISDA. So the “replacement cost” on any day is just the prevailing value of the Credit Support Balance. It is therefore easier to treat that as an Unpaid Amount (none of this tedious mucking about with replacement costs and so on). But that means you have to deem the Close-Out Amount[1] as zero.

Including “comprehensive” Termination Events

Consider expanding of the Default provision under Paragraph 6 of the CSA to include “Termination Events where all Transactions are Affected Transactions”. This is as per Section 3.2 of the 2001 ISDA Margin Provisions which recommend that Paragraph 6 of the CSA should apply where all Transactions are closed out following an Event of Default or “Specified Condition” — the latter of which is defined to include the Termination Events listed under the ISDA Master Agreement. It is likely that all Transactions would be Affected Transactions should a Credit Event Upon Merger or Additional Termination Event occur.

See also

References

  1. Or Market Quotation/Loss, if under a 1992 ISDA.Spoddy point: the definition of Loss in the 1992 ISDA includes the “Unpaid Amount” concept in the definition: “Loss includes losses and costs (or gains) in respect of any payment or delivery required to have been made (assuming satisfaction of each applicable condition precedent) on or before the relevant Early Termination Date and not made...”