EMTA works to develop an orderly and efficient marketplace, and to facilitate, and increase the liquidity of, Emerging Markets trading and investment, through building market resources and infrastructure for the industry. This work includes developing and recognizing Market Practices, undertaking projects to identify, clarify and minimize trading and settlement risks through standardizing documentation and other efforts, promoting consistency between local and international trading standards, increasing international understanding of local markets, as well as working to advance local market initiatives. EMTA also works to build, promote and inspire confidence in the Emerging Markets asset class in part by clarifying and promoting investor rights across all instrument categories.
Much of EMTA's work is accomplished through the efforts of various Working Groups, which are composed of EMTA Member representatives who collaborate to identify key industry issues, formulate possible solutions and develop market-wide consensus for resolving these issues. As the name suggests, Working Groups generally do not function as standing committees, but rather as informal groups formed to respond to specific needs of the marketplace. Some Groups are formed to deal with a single issue and others serve as the main forum for resolving issues that relate to a specific product or business area, while still others serve solely to provide a forum for discussion. Working Groups meet informally from time to time, usually by conference call supplemented and/or by electronic communication. EMTA Members may access any Working Group’s formal Market Practice recommendations, which are generally accepted by the marketplace, on EMTA’s website.
EMTA's decision-making process can be found here: https://www.emta.org/about-emta/decision-making-process/.
Working Group participants are advised of EMTA’s Antitrust / Competition Guidelines, as may be amended from time to time. Click Here to view the Guidelines.
EMTA’s Working Groups include:
| Asia Legal Working Group | Argentine Advisory Council | Fixed Income |
| FX and Currency Derivatives | Legal and Compliance |
Asia Legal Working Group. This Working Group, formed of EMTA Member legal personnel in several of the Asia financial centers, addresses many of the FX and currency derivatives matters in those regions but, from time to time, issues on other topics and in other product areas are raised for discussion in that forum.
Contact: Leslie Payton Jacobs
Argentine Advisory Council. This Group comprises representatives of EMTA Members located in or with offices in Argentina and was formed with the intention of monitoring developments in the Argentine market and providing input to the EMTA Board on these developments as needed.
Contact: Leslie Payton Jacobs
Fixed Income. EMTA’s first Working Groups were composed of the Bond Trading, Warrants and Loan Trading Working Groups. These original EMTA Working Groups developed a basic infrastructure for, and implemented Market Practices and standard documentation to facilitate, efficient trading and investment of various Emerging Markets assets. EMTA Members may Click Here to access the Bond Market Practices and Click Here to access the Standard Documentation recommended by these Working Groups.
The Bond Trading Working Group was originally formed in 1999 to address a variety of issues affecting Emerging Markets bond trading and investment. This Group has recommended Market Practices for flat trading of various countries that have defaulted on their debt.
The Warrants Working Group (no longer active) was originally formed in 1995 to address various settlement problems associated with the warrants that traded with certain Brady bonds. Among other things, this Group coordinated an industry-wide reconciliation effort with Euroclear, and developed Market Practice recommendations regarding the separate trading of warrants and their related Mexican, Venezuelan and Nigerian bonds.
The Loan Trading Working Group (no longer active) was originally formed in 1994 to address a variety of issues affecting Emerging Markets loan trading. The Group developed Standard Terms for Assignments of Loan Assets (including a Market Practice Guide) and Standard Participation Terms for Yugoslavia, Russia, Peru and Ivory Coast. The Group is also responsible for recommending Market Practices, including general buy-in and sell-out procedures for loan assets.
Contact: Aviva Werner
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The FX and Currency Derivatives Working Group (also referred to as the NDF Working Group) seeks to address issues relating to trading in Emerging Markets currencies, many of which trade on a non-deliverable basis. This Working Group and its currency-specific or topical subgroups are formed and meet as necessary to address current needed work streams. Among these subgroups are (or have been) the African Currency Working Group, the Argentine NDF Working Group, the Russian Ruble Traders Working Group, the BRL Working Group, the Ukraine Traders Working Group, the KZT Working Group and many others.
Formed in 1997, this Working Group’s first significant effort was its extensive collaboration with the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) and the Foreign Exchange Committee of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FXC) to draft the 1998 FX and Currency Option Definitions and Annex A thereto. These provided the market with a much-needed architecture for the documentation of FX and currency option transactions generally and, in particular, provided an appropriate vocabulary for the documentation of transactions involving Emerging Market currencies. EMTA continues to work with ISDA and the FXC to update and expand these materials for the marketplace’s use. In addition, the Working Group has produced, and continues to update, currency-specific standard terms for many non-deliverable forward and currency option transactions reflecting, and in some circumstances, introducing improvements to, current Market Practices for trading in that currency. A significant focus for the Working Group during 2002-2004 was to enhance the recommended NDF and NDO documentation to better withstand the effects of long-term local market disruptions, as was reflected in its work in both the Latin American and Asian regions. Later, through the efforts of these various working groups, EMTA continued to produce standardized template terms for the trading of NDF and NDO contracts in many other countries, as well as for cross currency NDF and NDOs and to work with infrastructure providers to integrate the use of standardized contract terms into settlement and clearing systems for increased efficiency. In addition, following the 2008 financial crisis and market developments in the benchmark area, EMTA began to closely follow regulatory developments in this area with a view to adapting its standard documentation appropriately.
Significantly, the Working Group issues, from time to time, recommendations to the market ("FX and Currency Derivatives Market Practices"), as well as standard documents in response to market events and to further its documentation initiatives. EMTA Members may Click Here to access the FX and Currency Derivatives Market Practices and Click Here to access the Standard Documentation recommended by this Working Group.
Contact: Leslie Payton Jacobs
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Legal and Compliance. This Working Group (no longer active and which consisted of lawyers and compliance personnel who either were employed internally by, or are affiliated with, EMTA Members) met, from time to time, to discuss a variety of legal and compliance issues relevant to the Emerging Markets asset class. It is also within this forum that issues relating to international financial architecture, debt restructuring and investor rights were discussed. To review a list of topics that have been discussed at this Group's meetings, please Click Here.
Contact: Aviva Werner
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