What is a Comfort Letter?
In a capital markets transaction, underwriters will seek to protect themselves against any potential liability caused by misinformation from the issuer. One way they can do this is by requesting a comfort letter from the issuer's auditors. In this two-part video series, Kate discusses why issuers and underwriters use comfort letters and the different market practices between European and American issuers.
Overview
In a capital markets transaction, underwriters will seek to protect themselves against any potential liability caused by misinformation from the issuer. One way they can do this is by requesting a comfort letter from the issuer's auditors. In this video we introduced comfort letters, what they are, how they’re put together, when they’re provided and who can rely on them.
Key learning objectives:
What is a Comfort letter?
When is the comfort letter given in European capital markets transactions?
Who can rely upon a comfort letter?
Summary
Expert
Kate Craven
Kate is a senior member of ICMA and consults on various projects including the recent update of the Primary Market Handbook. Kate previously served as Director at Barclays Plc in the Legal Department. She was responsible for the team specialising in debt capital markets. Prior to joining Barclays, she served as Director at Merrill Lynch. Kate had started in the Transaction Management Group at Merrill Lynch International in 1993 before spending two years in Tokyo with Merrill Lynch Japan Securities. She later headed the team responsible for the documentation of syndicated Eurobonds and EMTN programmes. Kate became chair of the Legal & Documentation Committee of the ICMA in 2001 and was listed as one of the 8 top in-house lawyers in the 2001 edition of Chambers and Partners Index to Leading Lawyers.
