The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) released a whitepaper on 15 May 2025 examining collateral and liquidity efficiency in derivatives markets. The paper, produced by ISDA's Future Leaders in Derivatives programme, addresses challenges in regulatory complexity and market fragmentation while proposing solutions for collateral optimisation and infrastructure modernisation. The work draws on input from 31 industry professionals representing buy-side, sell-side, law firms and service providers globally, focusing on practical strategies to enhance collateral management processes and strengthen market resilience.

ARCHIVED: This document has been archived and will no longer be updated. What does this Practice Note cover? This Practice Note provides information about the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) interbank offered rate (IBOR) fallbacks supplements to the 2006 ISDA Definitions and related protocols, including the effects of adhering or not adhering to these protocols. ISDA has published important documents that give market participants in derivative contracts that reference IBOR, including the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) benchmark, a convenient way to modify their ISDA Master Agreements (and potentially non-ISDA documentation). These modifications specifically account for the ongoing phased discontinuation of IBORs and their replacement by risk-free rates that began at the end of 2021. The documents that ISDA has published include the IBOR Fallbacks Supplement and the Regional IBOR Fallbacks Supplement to the 2006 ISDA Definitions (Supplements 70 and 90), the 2020 IBOR Fallbacks Protocol (2020 Protocol) and the 2021 Fallbacks Protocol (2021 Protocol).

Standard contract for derivative transactions created by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) trade association.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) and the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) have released a joint position paper addressing the review of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). The paper outlines five key priorities for revision, including: streamlining disclosure requirements, transitioning to new product categorisation, aligning with other regulations, standardising derivatives treatment, and incorporating structured products consideration. The proposals aim to address implementation challenges while maintaining alignment with EU sustainable finance framework objectives.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) has published a joint response with the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) to the European Banking Authority’s discussion paper on selected EU Taxonomy key performance indicators (KPIs) and other aspects of the Taxonomy Disclosures Delegated Act. ISDA and AFME support simplifying the reporting framework and recommend removing the fees and commissions KPI, trading book KPI and investment firms’ ‘other services’ KPI, on the basis that these provide limited useful information while increasing costs and operational burdens.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) and the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) have responded to the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)'s consultation paper on its approach to policy. The associations support the continuation of structured policy development in dialogue with the industry, while also advocating for the enhancement of the PRA’s stakeholder engagements, and greater industry cooperation during the initiation phase of the policy cycle. In the response, the associations made several suggestions on clustering regulatory principles and recommended improvements to the cost-benefit analysis and data collection processes to achieve greater transparency.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) and the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) have responded to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)'s consultation on the changes to the UK commodity derivatives regulatory framework. Generally, the associations support the FCA’s proposal to reduce the position limits regime to align with the risks associated with certain commodity derivatives contract. However, they expressed concern over the suggested approaches for setting position limits and adding more reporting obligations.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) and the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) has responded to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) proposal in relation to publicising the commencement of investigations. The response highlights various concerns with the proposals, including risk of damage to shareholder value, risk to competitiveness of the UK economy and a negative impact on firms’ business relationships and dealings with other regulators and public bodies.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) and Ant International have jointly led the development of a new industry report under the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) Project Guardian exploring the use of tokenised bank liabilities and shared ledger technology for cross-border payments and foreign exchange (FX) settlement. The report sets out design principles aimed at standardising industry practices and enhancing interoperability, accompanied by robust risk management frameworks and detailed use cases for real-time, 24/7 FX settlement. It addresses key challenges in the current system, including limited settlement windows, time zone delays, and high transaction costs that total an estimated US$120bn annually, by proposing a framework that could reduce costs by 12.5% and save businesses more than US$50bn by 2030. Contributors include BNY, HSBC, OCBC and the Global FX Division of GFMA, with ongoing efforts to expand use cases and support integration with existing banking systems to serve the digital economy.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), in collaboration with Capgemini, has published a report exploring industry perspectives on the ISDA Digital Regulatory Reporting (DRR) initiative. Drawing on interviews with firms that have adopted DRR, the report highlights significant improvements in data quality, cost reductions, and operational efficiency. The DRR leverages machine-executable code to assist firms in meeting reporting requirements across eight jurisdictions, including compliance with the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) in the EU and UK, as well as the rules of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The initiative also includes plans to expand coverage to 12 rule sets across nine jurisdictions.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), in collaboration with the Emerging Markets Traders Association (EMTA), have published research showing that global FX derivatives average daily turnover reached USD 6.6 trillion in April 2025, approximately double its level from April 2013. The UK accounted for the largest share of reported turnover at 37.7%, while the Asia-Pacific region’s share increased to 29.8%, up from 22.8% in 2013. Although FX swaps remain the largest segment overall, recent growth has been driven by outright forwards and FX options, resulting in a shift in product composition. Activity remains concentrated in short maturities, with around three-quarters of FX swaps and outright forwards maturing within one month. FX derivatives serve four primary purposes: (1) hedging foreign currency exposures; (2) managing cross-currency funding and liquidity; (3) managing balance sheet and event-driven exposures; and (4) facilitating currency positioning. This report follows the publication of ISDA’s and EMTA’s revised 2026 FX Definitions on 3 March 2026.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) and EMTA have published revised 2026 FX Definitions that update key market practices and consolidate foreign exchange (FX) and FX‑related templates into one integrated document, which will replace the 1998 FX and Currency Option Definitions when implemented on 22 November 2027, after which Swift is no longer expected to support the 1998 definitions. The updated definitions revise disruption events and fallbacks for deliverable transactions, incorporate EMTA template terms for non-deliverable FX transactions, align calculation agent standards with the 2021 ISDA Interest Rate Derivatives Definitions, eliminate the need for separate master confirmation agreements and, available in digital form on the ISDA MyLibrary platform, a revised version of the definitions will be published in full each time a future update is required.