ISDA Master Agreement

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ISDA Anatomy™
incorporating our exclusive ISDA in a Nutshell™


Index: Click to expand:Navigation
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
IllegalityTax EventTEUMCEUMATE

5

Events of Default
FTPDBreachCSDMisrepDUSTCross DefaultBankruptcyMWA
Termination Events
IllegalityTax EventTEUMCEUMATE

5

Events of Default
FTPDBreachCSDMisrepDUSTCross DefaultBankruptcyMWA
Termination Events
IllegalityFMTax EventTEUMCEUMATE

Early Termination 6

Early Termination
ET right on EODET right on TEEffect of DesignationCalculations

6

Early Termination
ET right on EODET right on TEEffect of DesignationCalculationsSet-off

6

Early Termination
ET right on EODET right on TEEffect of DesignationCalculationsSet-off

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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the fourteen causes of the pre-printed ISDA Master Agreement are not,but should, be known as the “sacred fourteen”.

Foundational concepts

Architecture

The ISDA Master Agreement

The ISDA Master Agreement is the basic framework which applies to anyone who touches down on planet ISDA. There are three existing versions:

  • the state-of-the-art 2002 ISDA;[1]
  • the still-popular-with-traditionalists-and-Americans 1992 ISDA, and
  • the all-but-retired-but-don’t-forget-there-are-still-soldiers-in-the-Burmese-jungle 1987 ISDA[2]
  • the interesting-only-for-its-place-in-the-fossil-record-and-witty-acrostic 1985 ISDA Code; and
  • there isn’t a 2008 ISDA. That’s a little running JC in-joke.[3]

All three versions have a tri-partite form: Pre-printed Master, Schedule and — well, this is controversial: for is it, or is it not, part of the ISDA Master Agreement? — Credit Support Annex.

Big drafting issues
Netting
  • The importance of close-out netting
  • Netting opinions
  • Counterparty types
  • Automatic Early Termination
  • Collateral
  • Multibranch parties
Collateral

How the CSA works

  • Title transfer versus pledge
  • “Equivalent” credit support
  • Independent Amounts
  • Changes wrought by regulations for variation margin
  • Valuation of collateral and exposure values
Tax representations
Notices and communications
Definitions booklets
Process issues
  • Capacity and authority
  • Onboarding and AML
  • Static data and netting flags
Who are the stakeholders?
    • Credit
    • Treasury
    • Legal
    • Trading
    • Sales


See also

  1. There is no such thing as a 2008 ISDA. That was a joke on our part.
  2. Seriously: proceed with caution with one of these. 1987 ISDAs don’t have a lot of safety features a modern derivatives counterparty relies on, so only for real specialists and weirdos. Think of it like flying a spitfire rather than a 737 Max. Um, okay, bad metaphor.
  3. Talking to yourself might not be the first sign of madness, but having in-jokes with yourself might be.