King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) has teamed up with GD Financial Markets (GDFM) to help clients address incoming global regulation of the $500trn over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives market.

KWM and GDFM will assist banks and other large derivatives market participants to comply with requirements imposed under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) which comes into force in March 2017.

A major compliance challenge for the derivatives industry, the reforms involve updating thousands of International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) documents in multiple jurisdictions. By providing a dedicated managed solution, KWM and GDFM will be able to deliver significant cost savings to clients and help to maximise their ability to achieve regulatory compliance.

The service is supported by managed legal services provider Cognia Law and innovative Documentation Solution provider SmartDX. The high document volumes and complicated negotiation protocols will be optimised and controlled through SmartDX, the Capital Markets division of Smart Communications.

Vanessa Docherty, Structured Finance partner at King & Wood Mallesons, said:

“We are very pleased to announce our involvement in this venture, and look forward to assisting clients across a wide range of jurisdictions as they navigate the vast, complex terrain of international derivative regulations.

“With a number of the G20 countries implementing similar but not identical legislation ahead of the March 2017 implementation deadline, the derivatives market participants are having to navigate a very complex regulatory landscape in a very short time. They have to re-paper a vast number of relationships ahead of the deadline for them to be able to continue trading.

“Given the global and far-reaching nature of these changes, we feel that our strong international presence gives us the scale to provide a competitive service to clients across a broad number of regions, and provide guidance at a time of uncertainty across markets. With GD Financial Markets’ help and its access to a flexible and skilled workforce to deliver large projects, we now have the ability to deliver on these vast projects for clients in a very short space of time.”

Brett Aubin, Founding Partner of GD Financial Markets, said:

“Investment banks are looking for a solid and cost effective way to manage the increasing regulatory burden. Deadlines are approaching fast and many are facing several months of work to clear the contracts backlog. Our solution cuts that timeframe down by half when compared to traditional law model delivery frameworks.”

“In King & Wood Mallesons we have found a world-class derivatives specialist to complement our managed service expertise, operational excellence and market-leading technology.”