FDIC Urges Changes to Swaps Contracts to Ease Resolutions

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is pushing for changes to derivatives contracts that would make it easier to wind down a major bank.

The agency joined with British, German and Swiss authorities to urge the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, a trade group, to include language in derivatives contracts that would delay the closing of those contracts in case of the failure of a global systematically important financial institution.

This change would allow derivatives contracts to stay open while regulators resolve a failing institution, which would make it easier to unwind a bank in an orderly and transparent way, the FDIC said. The ISDA, which is based in London,  is the author of a master agreement that is the most widely used template for derivatives contracts worldwide.

“Uniform contractual language that limits termination rights with respect to derivatives transactions will greatly enhance the success of a resolution of a global systemically important financial institution, which by its nature will have significant cross-border operations," said FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg in a news release.

The FDIC’s request, announced Tuesday,  represents the agency’s latest effort to coordinate with foreign governments on cross-border resolution issues.  In February and March, FDIC staff had a series of meetings with British and European authorities that were intended to coordinate strategies for closing structurally important banks.

Last month, it pledged to work with the central bank of China to study cross-border issues related to a potential failure.

The letter to the ISDA was signed by the heads of the Bank of England, the Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority and the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, along with the FDIC’s Gruenberg.