--Olivia Thetgyi
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association has published a change to the master agreement to deal with the impending 30% U.S. withholding tax on equity derivatives. The change comes on the back of concerns by industry participants that the tax will squash equity derivative volumes.
Besides reducing the number of equity derivatives outright, the HIRE Act may cause dealers to structure trades differently in order to avoid the tax. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service is scrutinizing trades in which, during the process ....