Derivatives industry critics and others who blamed the demise of Enron on these complex financial instruments received a damning rebuttal from the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (Isda) last week.

In a paper entitled Enron Corporate Failure, Market Success, which was released at the group's annual general meeting in Berlin, Isda set out the theory of how market discipline, reputational and competition issues can be - and are continually - brought to bear on swap market practices, and are thereby sufficient to ensure the market's own self governance.