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Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance

Expertise & Experience

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We offer a full-service global debt and claims trading practice, providing the world's largest financial institutions with the platform to access the global marketplace successfully.

Our team is devoted to the secondary market trading of loans originated by commercial banks, other similar private debt and sovereign-backed obligations. We are recognised globally as experts in this field and our close alignment with the industry’s main trade associations allows us to keep our clients up to speed on the latest industry developments. We are counsel to both the Loan Market Association, the trade association for the European debt trading industry, and the Asia Pacific Loan Market Association, and are members of the Loan Syndications and Trading Association, the trade association for the US debt trading industry. We are also one of the primary authors of the Loan Market Association’s standard primary and secondary documentation forms. 

Asset managers, investment banks, commercial banks, insurance companies, pension funds, CDOs/CLOs and hedge funds all come to our global team for the depth of experience that no other firm can provide. We have professionals in our US, European, Asian and Australian offices who work seamlessly together across borders and time zones on a daily basis.

Our team has closed thousands of trades having a face value aggregating many billions of dollars. 

Our global practice has built a top-notch reputation by representing parties from all sides of the industry. We are well versed in the operations of the debt and claims trading marketplace and provide advice to our clients on an array of matters relating to the purchase and sale of assets on the secondary market, including:

  • Counterparty credit risk 
  • Regulatory matters 
  • Investment Advisers Act 
  • Prohibited transactions 
  • Arrangements that bear materially on the legal rights and value of debt being traded 
  • Cross-office coordination for debt governed by sovereign law or backed by a foreign sovereign 
  • Evaluation of other considerations where paper is backed by specialty assets 
  • Disgorgement risks 
  • Liens of record 

Our debt and claims trading team applies our proven process-driven approach to settling trades to our clients' advantage. We are able to offer clients significant cost savings through Clifford Chance’s Knowledge Center in India, which operates as a seamless support function, with a team of India-qualified lawyers providing legal support services to Clifford Chance lawyers on transactions after extensive training in London and New York. This service, coupled with our "Continuous Improvement" approach means that we are perfectly positioned to settle trades for our clients in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.

Financial Markets Toolkit

Access the Clifford Chance Financial Markets Toolkit for a 24/7 online resource that gives you the cutting edge knowledge you need for your financial markets business. Aimed at all professionals working across the global financial markets, the Toolkit comprises a collection of publications, guides and transaction tools from across our network. It has been designed to be compatible with smart phones and tablets and its resources are available to you on demand, whenever you need them.

Finance Industry Alerter

Sign up to our Finance Industry Alerter to receive updates on the 'must know' legislative, regulatory and market changes in banking, insurance and investment services. The Alerter is designed to meet the needs of professionals with legal and compliance responsibilities and is also used by governmental relations and other business users. The information can be personalised to suit the jurisdictions and industry sectors of most interest to you.