A bridge too far: EBA swap stay to spur mass repapering?

Industry scrambles to avoid duplicating BRRD close-out contract changes across four jurisdictions

Painting Scotland’s Forth rail bridge is famously – or infamously – a never-ending job. No sooner is it done, than you have to start again from the other end.

It’s a scenario Europe’s largest banks are keen not to mimic. Five years ago, they repapered thousands of derivatives contracts with non-European counterparties to insert new clauses – known as contractual swap stays – to avoid unnecessary and messy close-outs. They may now have to rewrite these contracts again – and at the double – to