.jpg)
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) today announced that it has reissued an invitation to tender for the secretarial role on the credit derivatives Determinations Committees (DCs).
The new invitation to tender follows an announcement on October 6, 2017 that the DCs and ICE Benchmark Administration (IBA) were unable to reach agreement on IBA assuming the role of DC secretary. IBA had been selected through the original tender process in 2016.
The DC secretary, a role currently held by ISDA, is responsible for administrative duties, such as distributing questions submitted by eligible market participants to the relevant DCs, coordinating the timings of DC meetings, and publishing the results of DC votes. While administering the process, the DC secretary does not vote on whether credit events have occurred, and so does not make the determinations.
The DCs comprise 10 sell-side and five buy-side voting firms, alongside consultative firms and central counterparty observer members. These DC firms are responsible for determining whether credit events have occurred in the credit default swaps market by comparing publicly available information on particular events with the legal definitions contained in market-standard credit derivatives documentation. A supermajority decision (12 out of 15) is required for a credit event to be declared, or for the DC rules to be amended and to effect any transition of the DC secretary role.
ISDA will work with the DC and the new secretary during a transition phase to ensure minimum disruption to the credit derivatives market.
Firms that intend to submit a tender should contact ISDA’s legal department for more information: isdalegal@isda.org.
