Specified Indebtedness - ISDA Provision

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ISDA Anatomy™


In a Nutshell Section Specified Indebtedness:

Specified Indebtedness” means any borrowed money.
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2002 ISDA full text of Section Specified Indebtedness:

Specified Indebtedness” means, subject to the Schedule, any obligation (whether present or future, contingent or otherwise, as principal or surety or otherwise) in respect of borrowed money.
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Click here for the text of Section Specified Indebtedness in the 1992 ISDA

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See ISDA Comparison for a comparison between the 1992 ISDA and the 2002 ISDA.
The Varieties of ISDA Experience
Subject 2002 (wikitext) 1992 (wikitext) 1987 (wikitext)
Preamble Pre Pre Pre
Interpretation 1 1 1
Obligns/Payment 2 2 2
Representations 3 3 3
Agreements 4 4 4
EODs & Term Events 5 Events of Default: FTPDBreachCSDMisrepDUSTCross DefaultBankruptcyMWA Termination Events: IllegalityFMTax EventTEUMCEUMATE 5 Events of Default: FTPDBreachCSDMisrepDUSTCross DefaultBankruptcyMWA Termination Events: IllegalityTax EventTEUMCEUMATE 5 Events of Default: FTPDBreachCSDMisrepDUSSCross DefaultBankruptcyMWA Termination Events: IllegalityTax EventTEUMCEUM
Early Termination 6 Early Termination: ET right on EODET right on TEEffect of DesignationCalculations; Payment DatePayments on ETSet-off 6 Early Termination: ET right on EODET right on TEEffect of DesignationCalculationsPayments on ETSet-off 6 Early Termination: ET right on EODET right on TEEffect of DesignationCalculationsPayments on ET
Transfer 7 7 7
Contractual Currency 8 8 8
Miscellaneous 9 9 9
Offices; Multibranch Parties 10 10 10
Expenses 11 11 11
Notices 12 12 12
Governing Law 13 13 13
Definitions 14 14 14
Schedule Schedule Schedule Schedule
Termination Provisions Part 1 Part 1 Part 1
Tax Representations Part 2 Part 2 Part 2
Documents for Delivery Part 3 Part 3 Part 3
Miscellaneous Part 4 Part 4 Part 4
Other Provisions Part 5 Part 5 Part 5
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A simple and innocuous enough provision. Almost redundant — why go to the trouble of defining borrowed money as another term? (because some firms, in their infinite wisdom, will wish to change the definition of borrowed money to include derivatives, other trading exposures, or even any payment obligations of any kind, and Specified Indebtedness is a (somewhat) less loaded label than borrowed money)[1].

In any case, what should one make of “borrowed money”? Could it include repo and stock loan]] obligations? Amounts owed to trade creditors? (In each case no, according to Simon Firth - see here)

Of particular interest in the debate on Cross Default. Please refer to that section for a fuller discussion. see also the somewhat clumsier (but materially similar) definition of Specified Indebtedness in the EFET Master Agreement.

See also

References

  1. By the way, the JC’s personal view is that one should not widen the definition beyond the normal conception of “borrowed money”, and if one is a bank, may wish to narrow it, to exclude deposits. See the article on ISDA’s Cross Default Event of Default for more information.