Inability of Head or Home Office to Perform Obligations of Branch - ISDA Provision

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2002 ISDA Master Agreement

A Jolly Contrarian owner’s manual™

5(e) in a Nutshell

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Original text

5(e) Inability of Head or Home Office to Perform Obligations of Branch. If:[1]

(i) an Illegality or a Force Majeure Event occurs under Section 5(b)(i)(1) or 5(b)(ii)(1) and the relevant Office is not the Affected Party’s head or home office,
(ii) Section 10(a) applies,
(iii) the other party seeks performance of the relevant obligation or compliance with the relevant provision by the Affected Party’s head or home office and
(iv) the Affected Party’s head or home office fails so to perform or comply due to the occurrence of an event or circumstance which would, if that head or home office were the Office through which the Affected Party makes and receives payments and deliveries with respect to the relevant Transaction, constitute or give rise to an Illegality or a Force Majeure Event, and such failure would otherwise constitute an Event of Default under Section 5(a)(i) or 5(a)(iii)(1) with respect to such party,

then, for so long as the relevant event or circumstance continues to exist with respect to both the Office referred to in Section 5(b)(i)(1) or 5(b)(ii)(1), as the case may be, and the Affected Party’s head or home office, such failure will not constitute an Event of Default under Section 5(a)(i) or 5(a)(iii)(1).

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

Resources and Navigation

Index: Click to expand:

Comparisons

There is no Section 5(e) in the 1992 ISDA. It came about through a confluence of the 2002 ISDA’s new Force Majeure Termination Event, an evolution of the existing Illegality Termination Event, and what we can only put down to down-home crazy-apes paranoia from ISDA’s crack drafting squad™, about which we hypothesise in some detail in the premium section. Our imagined explanation involves Pink Floyd axe-man David Gilmour and some disrupted Moroccan Dirham remittances, if that is any incentive.

Basics

In a nutshell squared: If an Affected Party’s head office is subject to a Force Majeure or Illegality, It can’t be whacked for not performing a branch’s obligations under the Section 10(a) rep.

From the “shoot me” department, this multi-line bunker-buster introduced into the 2002 ISDA which, to give it some kind of credit, doesn’t generate a great deal of comment in the course of your average negotiation. That is as likely to be because it is so stupefyingly dull that no one has summoned the fortitude to read it as it is because it is a sensible, prudent allocation of risk.

But here you are, especially for you, the Jolly Contrarian’s Nutshell service renders it for you in emperor’s couturier style.

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See also

References

  1. The line breaks are for comprehension and do not appear in the original