The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) today continues its successful series of credit default swap settlement (CDS) protocols with the launch of the 2008 Washington Mutual CDS Protocol.
The protocol mechanism, which facilitates industry-wide net settlement of credit default swaps, was most recently used to settle CDS on Lehman Brothers Holdings. Over 350 organizations adhered to ISDA’s 2008 Lehman CDS Protocol, which provided a seamless settlement procedure for approximately $6bn of net CDS exposures.* On Friday, October 10, ISDA held a press briefing to discuss the protocol and auction in the context of other market developments. An audio link to the conference call is available at http://www.isda.org/press/audio/6855060.mp3.
“The success of ISDA’s protocol and auction process demonstrates a fundamentally important point about our business,” said Robert Pickel, executive director and chief executive officer, ISDA. “Our industry, working through ISDA, has invested a significant amount of human and financial resources to build a robust framework and infrastructure for the privately negotiated derivatives business. The framework works and is helping the financial industry to negotiate the difficult economic times that have resulted from subprime lending issues.”
The purpose of the Washington Mutual CDS Protocol is to offer market participants an efficient way to settle credit derivative transactions referencing Washington Mutual Inc, the WaMu holding company that filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection on September 26, 2008. The Protocol, which is open until October 20, offers institutions the ability to amend their documentation for various credit derivatives transactions in order to utilize an auction scheduled for October 23, 2008 to determine the final price for certain Washington Mutual obligations. Markit and Creditex will administer the auction.
The 2008 Washington Mutual CDS Protocol is open to ISDA members and non-members alike.
A complete list of deliverable obligations that are included in the Protocol and a list of adherents to date are available at www.isda.org. The text of the Protocol and form of adherence letter, guidance on the mechanics of the Protocol, and answers to frequently asked questions are also available on the Association’s website. Details on the auction are included in the Protocol.
In addition to Washington Mutual and Lehman Brothers, ISDA’s protocol and auction process resulted in a seamless settlement procedure for the outstanding CDS trades on Tembec and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. ISDA expects to implement similar processes for Landsbanki Islands hf, Glitnir Banki hf and Kaupþing Banki hf in the coming weeks.
* As stated by The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) on October 11, 2008.
