‘Targeted Touchdown’ and ‘Partial Liftoff’: Post-Crisis Dispute Resolution in the OTC Derivatives Markets and the Challenge for ISDA*

Abstract

Since the 1980s, influential participants in the niche over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets have sought to encourage contractual standardization in the industry to mitigate the potential for unforeseen legal interruptions and ensure the enforceability of OTC derivatives contracts. The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), a trade association and standard-setter, has spearheaded this effort; resulting in the creation and sustenance of a highly successful transnational private regulatory regime (TPRER). Most notably, ISDA has generated a standardized boilerplate contract for OTC derivatives, known as the ‘ISDA Master Agreement’. However, the TPRER within which the ISDA Master Agreement operates displays some intriguing features and paradoxes. Chief amongst these paradoxes is that, while this TPRER appears at first glance to be highly legalistic and formal, indications are that rates of formal litigation between members of the regulatory regime have traditionally been low relative to the size of the market (the total notional amount of OTC derivatives contracts outstanding at the end of 2011 was estimated at US$648 trillion).