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AI Summary of Article 238 Maturity of credit protection

This document outlines the effective maturity of credit protection agreements, stipulating that the underlying obligation's maturity is based on the longest remaining time until fulfilment, capped at five years. The credit protection maturity is determined by the earliest termination date available, with specific considerations based on who holds the termination option.

For seller options, the maturity is fixed at the option's earliest exercisable date. Conversely, if the buyer has a discretionary termination option, the institution must evaluate if there is a positive incentive to call the transaction early. In scenarios where early termination is permissible without default penalties, the protection maturity should be adjusted accordingly.

Version status: Applicable | Document consolidation status: Updated to reflect all known changes
Version date: 1 January 2014 - onwards
Version 4 of 4

Article 238 Maturity of credit protection

1. Subject to a maximum of five years, the effective maturity of the underlying shall be the longest possible remaining time before the obligor is scheduled to fulfil its obligations. Subject to paragraph 2, the maturity of the credit protection shall be the time to the earliest date at which the protection may terminate or be terminated.

2. Where there is an option to terminate the protection which is at the discretion of the protection seller, institutions shall take the maturity of the protection to be the time to the earliest date at which that option may be exercised. Where there is an option to terminate the protection which is at the discretion of the protection buyer and the terms of the arrangement at origination of the protection contain a positive incentive for the institution to call the transaction before contractual maturity, an institution shall take the maturity of the protection to be the time to the earliest date at which that option may be exercised; otherwise the institution may consider that such an option does not affect the maturity of the protection.

3. Where a credit derivative is not prevented from terminating prior to expiration of any grace period required for a default on the underlying obligation to occur as a result of a failure to pay institutions shall reduce the maturity of the protection by the length of the grace period.