On March 31, 2015, ISDA® announced its selection of new credit default swap (CDS) determinations committee (DC) members. DC members make important determinations for the CDS market, including when a credit event has occurred with respect to a particular reference entity. DCs are necessary because it is not always clear when a credit event has occurred under a CDS.

Under a CDS, if a credit event is deemed to have occurred with respect to the reference entity (a third party), credit protection payments under the swap must be made from the credit protection seller to the credit protection buyer. Common credit events include bankruptcy of the reference entity or failure to pay under a debt instrument issued by the reference entity (the reference obligation).

For example, when a lender and borrower enter into a forbearance agreement, it is often unclear if a failure to pay has occurred. Additionally, during the Greek debt crisis, it was not clear whether or not a credit event had occurred with respect to Greece, which was named as a reference entity in certain sovereign CDS. The DC makes these determinations, upon request by market participants.

DCs also determine, among other things, which of the reference entity's debt instruments will be deliverable obligations in a CDS auction (see Practice Note, Understanding the Auction Settlement and Restructuring Supplement to the 2003 ISDA® Credit Derivatives Definitions).

Effective April 29, 2015, the following members (many of which were also members last year) will serve on the following DCs:

Voting Dealers (for all regions):

Consultative Dealer (for all regions):

Voting Non-dealers (for all regions):

Consultative Non-dealer (for all regions):

A DC currently exists in each of the following regions:

For more information on ISDA's Big Bang Protocol for CDS, under which DCs were created, see Practice Note, Credit Derivatives: Overview (US): ISDA's Big Bang: Box, CDS Determinations Committees).

For details on the mechanics of CDS and other credit derivatives, see Practice Note, Credit Derivatives: Overview (US).