STS Criterion 22. Reference register

Description

Reference register

Content

The underlying exposures should be identified at all times via a reference register. The reference register should clearly identify, at all times, the reference obligors, the reference obligations from which the underlying exposures arise, the outstanding notional amount of each underlying exposure, and the protected notional amount for each underlying exposure.

Rationale

To avoid conflicts between the protection buyer and the protection sellers and to ensure legal certainty in terms of the scope of the credit protection purchased for underlying exposures, such credit protection should reference clearly identified reference obligations, giving rise to the underlying exposures, of clearly identified entities or obligors. Therefore, the reference obligations on which protection is purchased should be clearly identified at all times, via a reference register, and kept continuously up to date. This requirement is also indirectly part of the criterion defining the balance sheet securitisation and excluding arbitrage securitisation from STS framework.