Template:Isda Preamble summ
ISDA architecture
The legal documentation for an ISDA swap transaction comes in three main parts, but — of course — there are complications for the legal eagles to get their iatrogenic talons into. But for now, let’s start at the beginning.
The ISDA Master Agreement
The ISDA Master Agreement is the basic framework that applies to anyone who touches down on planet ISDA. There are three existing in-use versions:
2002 ISDA: The still, after all these years, state-of-the-art 2002 ISDA.
1992 ISDA: The still-popular-with-traditionalists-and-Americans 1992 ISDA.
1987 ISDA: The all-but-retired-but-don’t-forget-there-are-still-soldiers-in-the-Burmese-jungle 1987 ISDA[1]
There are two non-functional versions:
1985 ISDA Code: The interesting-only-for-its-place-in-the-fossil-record-and-witty-acrostic 1985 ISDA Code.
2008 ISDA: The this-fixes-everything, on-chain, smart, artificially intelligent 2008 ISDA that was introduced during, and tragically destroyed by, the Global Financial Crisis. Oh, all right there isn’t a 2008 ISDA. That’s a little running JC in-joke.[2]
All three versions have a tri-partite form: Pre-printed Master, {{{{{1}}}|Schedule}}, {{{{{1}}}|Confirmation}} and — well, this is controversial: for is it, or is it not, part of the ISDA Master Agreement? — Credit Support Annex.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Talking to yourself might not be the first sign of madness, but having in-jokes with yourself might be.