ISDA will commission netting opinions for the Czech Republic, India, Barbados and Iceland next year as part of its plan to further expand the jurisdictions in which it has legal certainty on the netting and collateral provisions in its Master Agreement.
ISDA has so far commissioned about 55 netting opinions, according to Don Thompson, "The list of countries in which there is commercial interest is somewhat dwindling," he said, adding that new commissions are issued based on member inquiry. "Czech [Republic] and India are obviously not major centers of derivatives activity," he said, "but there are some major counterparties in those jurisdictions."
ISDA will request an opinion on the Czech Republic first, and then Barbados, of interest to derivatives users because it's a popular home to hedge funds, Thompson explained. Iceland hosts a small number of banks with which ISDA members do business.
The association will commission a technical paper on China to offer investors a list of things to consider when doing business with a Chinese counterparty. It will not, however, issue an opinion because, according to Kimberly Summe, ISDA's general counsel in New York, the law is not certain enough yet.
