Legally Ineligible Credit Support (VM) - VM CSA Provision
2016 VM CSA Anatomy™
“Legal Ineligibility Notice” means a written notice from the Transferee to the Transferor in which the Transferee
“Total Ineligibility Date” means the date on which the relevant item of Eligible Credit Support (VM) (or a specified amount of such item) has ceased to satisfy, or will cease to satisfy, the Legal Eligibility Requirements applicable to the Transferee for all purposes hereunder, provided that, unless otherwise specified in Paragraph 11, if such date is earlier than the fifth Local Business Day following the date on which the Legal Ineligibility Notice is delivered, the Total Ineligibility Date will be the fifth Local Business Day following the date of such delivery.
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No such concept in the 1995 CSA or the 1994 NY CSA
Concerning as it does legal and not contractual ineligibility of credit support, and that being a function of criteria imposed by regulators on one’s mandatory obligations to post and collect margin, which did not exist before 2016, it is hardly surprising ISDA’s crack drafting squad™ of yore didn’t anticipate the need for this clause, which is convoluted, finnicky, and you can avoid the need for it entirely, should you post cash in a sensible currency.
Difference between 2016 VM CSA and 2016 NY Law VM CSA
In most respects they are identical (with references to “Transferor” and “Transferee” switched to “Pledgor” and “Secured Party”). There are two technical differences, for completists:
- The exception in the 2016 VM CSA for Legally Ineligible Credit Support counting as Eligible Credit Support for the purpose of Credit Support Balance and Equivalent Credit Support. This is because, being a title transfer collateral arrangement, even though it is worth zero for the purposes of discharging one’s regulatory obligation to collect and return collateral, in the real world it is still worth something, and the Transferee still has to give it back, even if that has no effect on valuations under the 2016 VM CSA. With a 2016 NY Law VM CSA since the Secured Party never[1] “gets” it in the first place, the Secured Party doesn’t have to give it back either. (By the way, if you aren’t saying, “hey, but what about rehypothecation under Paragraph 6(c)?” yet, you should be.)
- The exception for valuation on Default — that flows from the fundamental difference between the 2016 VM CSA a title transfer collateral arrangement which is a Transaction under the ISDA Master Agreement and the 2016 NY Law VM CSA which is a security financial collateral arrangement which is only a Credit Support Document under the ISDA Master Agreement.
- ↑ Ahem rehypothecation folks.