Global Network, Policy Development, Advocacy and Networking
Global Network of Industry Experts
Global Network of Industry Experts
Through its global network of committees, members and industry experts from around the world collaborate to reach consensus on important industry issues, develop best practices and drive standardization to make the global derivatives markets safer and more efficient.
- Includes a diversity of industry participants who share their expertise and knowledge to find common solutions to shared problems and challenges
- My ISDA Committee Dashboard allows members to easily and securely manage their ISDA committees and meetings online—join and leave groups and review and download all working group content, including the meeting schedule and calendar invites
Policy Development, Advocacy and Regulatory Initiatives
Policy Development, Advocacy and Regulatory Initiatives
Members help shape the global policy and regulatory agenda
- Provides a forum for market participants to discuss best practices and develop legislative and regulatory policies and positions
- Engages continuously with a broad range of regulators and policy-makers on a global level to strengthen and grow the derivatives industry
- Advances the understanding and treatment of derivatives as a risk management tool through fact-based advocacy
- Helps members meet regulatory requirements such as margin for non-cleared swaps, trade execution, capital requirements, clearing, market infrastructures, data and reporting
The Standard-Bearer
The Standard-Bearer
The source for global industry standards in documentation
- ISDA’s pioneering work in developing the ISDA Master Agreement and a wide range of related documentation, and in achieving certainty in close-out netting enforceability though netting and collateral opinions, has helped to significantly reduce credit and legal risk
- ISDA documents continue to evolve to reflect market and regulatory changes
- ISDA MyLibrary, a new electronic documentation platform, and the ISDA Online Library offered to members at a significantly reduced rate and to new members on a free six-month trial basis
- OL Plus enables swap dealers that are current ISDA Online Library subscribers to access the ISDA Definitions booklets and other ISDA documentation and send them to clients as part of their compliance with CFTC Regulation 23.431(a)(2) requirements
- Reduced member rate for the ISDA Clause Library, a tool that sets out standard drafting options for frequently negotiated provisions within the ISDA Master Agreement, as well as the most common variants of these provisions
- Reduced rates for publications
Industry Profile, Networking, and Events
Industry Profile, Networking, and Events
- Maintain a reputation in the industry as sophisticated, risk sensitive and fully engaged with current issues
- The ISDA Annual General Meeting (AGM) delivers must-have intelligence on key industry issues, led by senior industry executives and regulators from across the globe, and provides an opportunity for delegates to network and make new contacts
- Member firms are the preferred speakers at ISDA conferences, events and webinars
- Reduced member rates on conference registrations
- Exclusive exhibit, sponsor and networking opportunities
- Member-only local meetings, conference calls, and webinars held throughout the year to inform participants about current industry topics
ISDA Legal Opinions
A Key Credit Risk Mitigation Tool
Access to netting, collateral, clearing and e-contract opinions
ISDA continues to expand its netting, collateral, clearing and e-contract opinions to cover more jurisdictions and include additional counterparty types. The opinions are made available, along with regular updates, only to ISDA members.
Explore Opinions OverviewNetting and Collateral Opinions
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Netting Opinions covering 86 jurisdictions
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Collateral Opinions covering 64 jurisdictions
The ISDA Master Agreement has established international contractual standards governing privately negotiated derivatives transactions that reduce legal uncertainty and allow for reduction of credit risk through netting of contractual obligations. Ensuring the enforceability of the netting provisions of the ISDA Master Agreement remains a key initiative for the Association.
The ISDA netting opinions address the enforceability of the termination, bilateral close-out netting and multibranch netting provisions of the 1992 and 2002 Master Agreements. In addition, ISDA has commissioned legal opinions on the enforceability of the ISDA Credit Support Documents in various jurisdictions. ISDA has published netting opinions covering over 80 jurisdictions and collateral opinions covering over 60 jurisdictions. The opinions are generally updated on an annual basis. The status of such updates is available here.
ISDA has also published informal country updates for jurisdictions where it does not currently have a netting opinion. Such informal country updates are available here. An overview of all jurisdictions currently covered by either a netting opinion or informal country update can be found here.
Client Clearing Opinions
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Clearing Member Reliance Opinions covering 55 jurisdictions
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Client Reliance Opinions covering 28 jurisdictions
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FCM Reliance Opinions covering 24 jurisdictions
Principal to Principal Model (P2P) ISDA has addressed the enforceability of the close-out, set-off and default provisions of the ISDA/FIA Client Cleared OTC Derivatives Addendum (the "P2P Addendum") when used in conjunction with the form of the Master Agreement. The P2P Addendum works in conjunction with an existing master agreement to facilitate the standardised documentation of client clearing and to support delivery of the client protections used by central counterparties on the default of a clearing member. The P2P Addendum operates on the principal-to-principal client clearing model and is designed to operate on a cross CCP basis in conjunction with any non-US CCP that adopts a client clearing structure capable of being used with the P2P Addendum. ISDA's client clearing opinions are produced either for reliance by a clearing member entering into a P2P Addendum with a client located in a particular jurisdiction or for reliance by a client entering into a P2P Addendum with a CM located in a particular jurisdiction.
CRR Article 305(2)(c) ISDA has published a number of clearing related legal opinions to assist ISDA members to apply the risk weightings under CRR Article 305. One of the conditions to apply the reduced risk weightings under Article 305 is that the client of a clearing member has a legal opinion that it would bear “no losses” on account of the insolvency of its clearing member or any of the clearing member’s clients under the laws of the jurisdiction of various related entities. A modular architecture has been used to prepare these opinions.
CRR Article 305(2)(c) opinions – Note to ISDA members
CRR Article 305(2)(c) opinions status
US FCM Model ISDA and FIA jointly commission and publish, for the benefit of their members, legal reviews addressing the enforceability of a US registered FCM’s close-out and netting rights vis-à-vis its customers in various jurisdictions under the FIA-ISDA Cleared Derivatives Addendum. These legal reviews are based on assumptions regarding the content of the underlying futures and options agreement that is supplemented by the FIA-ISDA Cleared Derivatives Addendum between an FCM and a customer. ISDA and FIA also commission and publish, for the benefit of their members, legal reviews addressing the ability of customers to net against their respective FCMs, when using the FIA-ISDA Cleared Derivatives Addendum and against three CCPs that support the FCM model of clearing (CME, ICE and LCH).
E-contract Opinions
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E-contract Opinions covering 67 jurisdictions
Contracts are increasingly being formed and executed electronically. Several countries around the globe, including the Middle Eastern and Asia-Pacific regions, have enacted legislation in the area of electronic commerce based on various types of UNCITRAL model provisions and treaties, e.g., the 2005 UN Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts, the 1996 UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce and the 2001 Model Law on Electronic Signatures. These instruments include provisions relevant to financial contracts, including foreign exchange and securities transactions. ISDA’s e-contract opinions look at the enforceability of electronically executed and electronically confirmed contracts under the laws of various jurisdictions in the context of transactions under the ISDA Master Agreement which may be entered into by means of electronic data interchange or other means of electronic communication. A copy of a webinar ISDA held on electronic execution in April 2020 in light of COVID-19 is available here.
The Importance of Close-Out Netting and Offsetting Mechanisms
aosphere Online Legal Services
Extracts data from the opinions and presents an online report, updated annually
- Each report is traffic-light color-coded and details problematic counterparty/transaction types in each jurisdiction
- Subscribers have unlimited access across their organization and the information can be accessed in any location at any time on a standardized basis
- Only available to ISDA members by subscription
- Includes a free trial of netalytics, CSAnalytics and diligence for two jurisdictions from each service for up to three months Learn More
Innovation Thought Leadership
Creating value for the industry by developing cost-effective and consistent mutualized solutions
Capital & Margin Solutions
Capital & Margin Solutions
- ISDA benchmarking of standardized approaches (SA) helps firms and regulators achieve consistency and accuracy in implementation of FRTB, CCR & CVA models
- ISDA won Innovation in Technology award for Perun, an ISDA in house technology solution that enables firms and regulators to have direct access to the Benchmarking results
- Adoption of ISDA SIMM, a standardized methodology for calculating initial margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives adopted by most, if not all, banks
- Promoting global harmonization of risk-appropriate rules as evidenced by ongoing impact analysis
- Promoting ISDA’s Common Risk Interchange Format (CRIF) as the standard for risk data reporting and processing enhanced by leveraging the ISDA Common Domain Model (CDM)
Post Trade Solutions
Post Trade Solutions
- Developing automated derivatives lifecycle solutions (STP):
- Focusing on collateral lifecycle innovation
- Deploying CDM-based data and product solutions
- Facilitate industry development of efficient practices for derivatives products compliant with regulatory mandates
Clearing and Trading Solutions
- Providing thought leadership in CCP risk management, resiliency, recovery and resolution
- Promoting consistent trading, clearing and reporting rules
Legal Documentation Solutions
Legal Documentation Solutions
- Providing legal opinions covering 80+ jurisdictions, including e-contract opinions used to document derivatives and SFTs
- Developing documents and opinions to support stock loans and repos under the ISDA Master Agreement
- Providing thought leadership with digital assets, DLT and Smart Contract papers facilitating industry and regulatory discussion
- Creating a digital pathway for all ISDA documentation and effective use of smart derivatives contracts
- Further development of the ISDA Create platform and supporting ISDA MyLibrary
- New 2021 ISDA Interest Rate Derivatives Definitions, the first natively digital definitions booklet published exclusively on ISDA MyLibrary
- ISDA Clause Library expanded to cover ISDA’s collateral documentation
- Clause Library standard drafting options now integrated within ISDA Create, and the operational representations of these clauses are being modelled using ISDA CDM
- At the forefront of benchmark reform and transition from LIBOR, ISDA recently launched the IBOR Fallbacks Supplement and Protocol
CDM & Data Solutions
CDM & Data Solutions
- Defining standard product lifecycle taxonomies for derivatives, repo and securities finance
- Delivering alignment of industry standard models, e.g. FpML and CDM
- Implementing CDM through industry partnerships
- Ensuring solutions are technology-agnostic and open source
- Digital Regulatory Reporting (DRR) initiative to enable all firms to interpret and implement regulatory reporting rules consistently via a common, readable code
Resources and Access to Information
Market Information
- Early knowledge of industry changes and the opportunity to influence those changes
- Acquire knowledge of ‘best/new terms’ and new ideas across all aspects of the derivatives business
- Regular updates on policy papers, response letters, market survey data and communications on key business issues that ISDA and its consultants generate
ISDA Staff
- Access to dedicated staff in product areas, regulation, legal and operations available to discuss current market topics and assist with navigating the full extent of ISDA resources
- The depth of knowledge and product expertise of our staff makes the communications between ISDA and the regulatory community much more effective
Member Communication and Research
ISDA produces a range of communication tools, such as email newsletters, blogs, websites and a quarterly magazine, to keep our membership up to date on industry and Association developments. Email addresses registered with Membership automatically begin to receive news releases and news alerts, the monthly ISDA In Review, the weekly Global Regulatory Update and notifications about blog posts.
Learn More- Blog Post Notifications
- derivatiViews: ISDA’s CEO informal comments
- IQ: ISDA Quarterly magazine
- ISDA Buy Side Newsletter
- ISDA dailyLead
- ISDA Global Regulatory Update
- ISDA In Review
- ISDA News Releases
- ISDA Swaps Info Weekly Analysis
- ISDA-Clarus RFR Adoption Indicator
- OTC Derivatives Compliance Calendar
- Research Notes
- Studies and Surveys
- The Present Value
- The Swap – ISDA’s new monthly podcast
Primary Membership Dues
For the purpose of assessing dues, Primary Members fall into four sub-categories: Global, International, Regional and Emerging. Distinction is made solely for dues assessment and does not affect a Primary Member’s privileges.
Dues are pro-rated quarterly during the first year to reflect the time of entry into the Association. ISDA membership runs on the calendar year.
Global
For institutions with substantial swaps and derivatives business conducted across most or all financial centers around the world.
International
For institutions that conduct swaps and derivatives business across at least two regions.
Regional
For institutions that conduct business primarily within their own country and/or region.
Emerging
For institutions based in countries that qualify for reduced fees.
Becoming a Primary Member
ISDA Membership is corporate so all staff at member organizations can take advantage of the membership benefits. Membership extends to all eligible subsidiaries of the member company. Any applicant seeking election to any class of membership in the Association should make a written application. The ISDA Board of Directors elects the members of the Association.
Go to Membership ApplicationContact Us
Contact the relevant ISDA office for more information on becoming a member and the annual dues.