European Derivatives Master Agreements

Co-authored by Linda Sharkey, Law Clerk

How do master agreements work?

A master agreement is a set of common terms pre-agreed by the parties which will apply to any transactions of the same kind between them. For each transaction, the parties only have to determine and to agree its specific terms, ie mainly the kind of transaction (among those the parties have chosen to submit to the master agreement), the financial terms and, as the case may be, other specific terms which derogate to the content of the master agreement.

What are the main European derivative master agreements?

The main derivative master agreements used in Europe are sponsored by:

• the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA), and