contraparte

Contraparte is a noun used in Spanish to denote the other party in a legal, financial, or contractual relationship. It refers to the counterpart on the opposite side of an agreement or negotiation, and is commonly translated into English as counterparty.

In legal and contractual contexts, the contraparte is the party with whom one enters into an obligation. Each side has reciprocal rights and duties, and performance by one party typically triggers corresponding obligations for the other. In civil procedure, la contraparte denotes the opposing party in a lawsuit.

In finance and economics, contrapartes are the participants in a transaction, such as buyers, sellers, banks, or brokers. Counterparty risk is the risk that the other party may fail to meet its obligations. This risk is a central consideration in derivatives markets, lending, and trading. To mitigate it, many markets use central counterparties (CCPs) that interpose themselves between the two sides to guarantee performance.

The term is also used in diplomacy and international relations to refer to the official on the other side of negotiations or discussions, as in a country’s diplomatic counterpart or negotiation counterpart.

Etymology and usage: contraparte comes from contra (against) and parte (part). In English, the standard equivalent is counterparty. In Spanish, the term is widely used across law, finance, business, and diplomacy to describe the opposing participant in a given arrangement.