On June 12, 2015, ISDA published its EMIR Frontloading Additional Termination Event Amendment Agreement and an accompanying explanatory memorandum. The amendment agreement allows parties to an ISDA Master Agreement to amend the agreement to incorporate a new additional termination event covering frontloading.
Frontloading refers to the requirement for certain derivative transactions to be cleared in accordance with the clearing obligation under EMIR where the transactions are entered into during a given period before the clearing obligation takes effect. According to ISDA, in such cases, if clearing is not possible by the time the clearing obligation takes effect, the only way the parties can avoid breach of the frontloading requirement (or stop a breach that has occurred from continuing) is to terminate the problem contract. The amendment agreement provides the required termination right, thereby reducing the risk of regulatory breach faced by market participants subject to frontloading.
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