I-Ping Soong

I-Ping is a highly regarded derivatives lawyer and has been contributing to the regulatory development of derivatives and structured products in Asia for over 18 years. She is a member of the firm’s Hong Kong office leading derivatives advisory practice, whose advice to ISDA on netting, collateral and clearing is integral to the derivatives market.

I-Ping’s practice focuses on regulatory matters concerning over-the-counter derivatives, including netting and collateral (including margin), clearing, trade reporting, settlement systems and related issues.

I-Ping advises on industry-standard documentation such as the ISDA Master Agreement as well as bespoke netting agreements. She has been heavily involved in advising market participants on the implementation of margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives. She also advises on equity, credit and fund-linked products across Asia, as well as stock lending and repo documentation, in particular on Stock Connect arrangements.

Work highlights

I-Ping has advised on many derivatives-related issues and transactions. These include advising:

• ISDA as Hong Kong counsel in preparing the industry netting, collateral and clearing opinions
• CLS Bank as Hong Kong counsel in providing their settlement finality, netting and regulatory analysis
• a leading Chinese bank on the impact of sanctions on their derivatives business
• a number of key Hong Kong banks on initial margin implementation
• several major Hong Kong banks on LIBOR transition
• several institutions on Hong Kong Stock Connect, including on use of Stock Connect shares as collateral for triparty arrangements

I-Ping wrote Hong Kong Derivatives: Law & Practice, with Chin-Chong Liew. This is the first Asian-focused book on the legal and regulatory issues specific to derivatives and structured products which covers the core legal issues in this area and which is a leading text on derivatives in Hong Kong.

She wrote “Stock Connect: Changing the Game for financing A Shares”, as part of ISDA’s webinar series. She is a regular speaker at ISDA events, most recently on initial margin implementation (March 2022).

She was Director of Legal Research and Writing, The Department of Law, The University of Hong Kong, from 2005 and 2007.

I-Ping is active in promoting equestrianism in Hong Kong, particularly to make the sport more accessible to young people. She is Vice President and chairman of the Equestrian and Promotion Committee of the Hong Kong Equestrian Federation, the National Federation for the equestrian sport. She is on the management of one of Hong Kong’s oldest riding schools, a non-profit organisation in the New Territories of Hong Kong.

I-Ping studied law at Exeter College, University of Oxford.

She speaks fluent English and Cantonese and conversational Mandarin.