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AI Summary of Article 296 Recognition of contractual netting agreements

Competent authorities may only recognise a contractual netting agreement if specific conditions are fulfilled, ensuring a single legal obligation covers all transactions. This encompasses an assessment of the legal enforceability of claims and obligations amidst a counterparty's default.

Additionally, when cross-product netting agreements are involved, further scrutiny is required. Legal opinions must affirm the netting agreement's validity and its impact on individual master agreements, consolidating credit risk across all transactions to enhance regulatory compliance and risk management.

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

Article 296 Recognition of contractual netting agreements

1. Competent authorities shall recognise a contractual netting agreement only where the conditions in paragraph 2 and, where relevant, 3 are fulfilled.

2. The following conditions shall be fulfilled by all contractual netting agreements used by an institution for the purposes of determining exposure value in this Part:

(a) the institution has concluded a contractual netting agreement with its counterparty which creates a single legal obligation, covering all included transactions, such that, in the event of default by the counterparty it would be entitled to receive or obliged to pay only the net sum of the positive and negative mark-to-market values of included individual transactions;

(b) the institution has made available to the competent authorities written and reasoned legal opinions to the effect that, in the event of a legal challenge of the netting agreement, the institution's claims and obligations would not exceed those referred to in point (a). The legal opinion shall refer to the applicable law:

(i) the jurisdiction in which the counterparty is incorporated;