Mastering the ISDA Master Agreements

Published by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, the 1992 and 2002 ISDA® Master Agreements are the main contracts used in the over the counter global derivatives market. Mastering the ISDA Master Agreements provides a practical, clear and useful guide to help understand and negotiate these Master Agreements.

This revised and updated edition is an essential handbook for anyone involved in negotiating agreements, from financial institutions through to fund managers, law firms, credit officers, regulators and business students. The new edition includes:

• Increased focus on the 2002 ISDA Master Agreement Schedule
• Expanded sections on hedge fund and loan-linked Schedules
• The introduction of covered bonds
• The effect of the credit crunch, the role of derivatives and how this has affected the market

The ISDA Mater Agreements are complex documents and it can take up to two years to become proficient in negotiating and understanding their key elements. Mastering the ISDA Master Agreements provides a detailed overview of the legal, credit and operational issues inherent in the ISDA Master Agreements.

The book includes:

• The evolution of ISDA documentation including general and product definitions and confirmations
• A clear and detailed commentary on the individual sections and provisions of the 1992 and 2002 ISDA Master Agreements
• The main legal issues surrounding the Agreement and OTC derivatives from UK and US legal perspectives
• Special Schedule terms including those for building societies, insurance companies, hedge funds and sovereign entities
• Provisions seen in US Schedules which often face non-US negotiators
• The background to the credit crunch, the effect on the OTC derivatives market and some suggestions about possible changes to the market
• Annexes including reproductions of the ISDA Master Agreements and useful information
• Simplified glossaries of terms used in the Agreements

About the author

Paul Harding is a graduate of London University and has worked in several UK and foreign banks in London in credit, marketing and documentation roles. Since 1990 he has been involved with OTC derivatives documentation and was a well known negotiator in the City of London with Barclays Capital Securities Limited and Hill Samuel Bank Limited where he was head of Treasury Documentation.

In February 1997 he founded Derivatives Documentation Limited (http://www.derivsdocu.com) , a derivatives consultancy and project management company based in the City of London and providing negotiation, recruitment and in-house and on-line training services in derivatives documentation. Its clients include many of the world's leading banks.

Paul is also the author of Mastering Collateral Management and Documentation, written in conjunction with Christian Johnson, which was published in November 2002.

Paul has also written books on ISDA® documentation for credit derivatives and on repos and their master agreement documentation.