The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) today commented on the continuing progress of major member firms in their initiatives addressing further improvements to the privately negotiated derivatives industry infrastructure.
ISDA and its members continue to be committed to the delivery against industry goals in three key areas:
— Strengthening and diversifying counterparty risk management through increased use of clearinghouses by extending their use to a greater number of individual market participants and product types;
— Improving transparency by building and using trade repositories for interest rate, CDS and equity derivative transactions; and
— Further strengthening the operational infrastructure of the privately negotiated derivatives business.
"With the direct input of the supervisory community, we have made significant progress in each of these areas and are determined to make more in the near future in line with ongoing commitments," said Eraj Shirvani, chairman of ISDA and head of Fixed Income EMEA at Credit Suisse. "We look forward to working constructively with the New York Fed and other policymakers on these initiatives."
In a January 14 meeting with supervisors, the industry outlined its accomplishments in the following areas:
— Meeting clearing targets in respect of new and pre-existing eligible trades;
— Achieving buy-side clearing;
— Delivering on a range of collateral management targets, including portfolio reconciliation and dispute resolution procedures;
— Establishment and go-live of trade repositories — the industry interest rate trade repository has recently gone live and an equity derivatives repository is in build-out phase; and
— Radically reducing, and in some product areas eliminating, confirmation backlogs.
ISDA and the industry have undertaken to deliver a further commitment letter to supervisors on March 1, 2010, extending and building upon prior commitments.
