Bilateral Netting

Bilateral Netting

Bilateral netting - the consolidation of all swap agreements between two counterparties into one master agreement. The result is that if one counterparty bankrupts, that counterparty cannot seek to collect on any swaps that are in-the-money to them while at the same time refusing to pay out on any that are out-of-the-money. Instead, the master agreement sets out that in this event all swaps between the two counterparties will be netted; only then will the bankrupt company receive money, and then only if they are net in-the-money.