CUSIP ID Requests Project Continued Strength in U.S. Corporate and Muni Issuance

NEW YORK, Aug. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CUSIP Global Services (CGS) today announced the release of its CUSIP Issuance Trends Report for July 2012.  The report, which tracks the issuance of new security identifiers as an early indicator of debt and capital markets activity, suggests a continued slowdown in international issuance and strength in US corporate debt and municipal bond issuance.

CUSIP requests for US corporate securities in July increased 9.3% with orders totaling 1,738 in comparison to June results of 1,667 CUSIPS.  This is a record high for July monthly CUSIP issuance, eclipsing the average July CUSIP request rate of 1,583 logged between 2008 and 2011.  Breaking out July data further, the bulk of this growth was driven by requests for corporate equity identifiers, which increased 19% for the month.  Requests for corporate debt identifiers declined 8.4% in July.  

Municipal CUSIP requests slowed slightly in July, with 1,154 identifier orders processed, ending a five-month consecutive increase in muni CUSIP issuance.  Year-over-year, municipal CUSIP demand is up by more than 45%, representing one of the strongest advances in CUSIP requests this year across all asset classes.

International debt CUSIP demand rose slightly in July, but remains down 11% year-to-date.  Likewise, international equity CUISP requests were up for the first time in three months, but remain down by more than 26% on a year-over-year basis.

"We're seeing mixed signals in the CUSIP issuance data this month, with the notoriously strong U.S. municipal bond identifier requests slowing slightly and the historically weak international issuance starting to creep back up," said Richard Peterson, Director, Global Markets Intelligence, S&P Capital IQ.  "While it's early to make a definitive call, we will be watching U.S. and international CUSIP request activity closely in the coming weeks and months."

To view a video commentary of this month's CUSIP issuance trends with Richard Peterson, please click here.

Following is a breakdown of new CUSIP identifier requests by asset class year-to-date through July 2012:

The CUSIP Global Services trends report is issued to the marketplace on a monthly basis.   For more information, please visit www.cusip.com. 

About CUSIP Global Services
For 40 years CUSIP Global Services has provided a unique common language for identifying financial instruments across institutions, exchanges and nations, enabling financial services firms to benefit from improved operating efficiencies and substantially reduced administrative costs. CUSIP Global Services is operated by the CUSIP Service Bureau (CSB). CSB is managed on behalf of the American Bankers Association by Standard & Poor's. For more information, visit www.cusip.com.

About The American Bankers Association
The American Bankers Association represents banks of all sizes and charters and is the voice for the nation's $13 trillion banking industry and its 2 million employees.  Learn more at www.aba.com.

[1] "International" Debt refers to market requests for CUSIP International Numbers ("CINS") for non-U.S. debt offerings

[2] "International" Equity refers to market requests for CUSIP International Numbers ("CINS") for non-U.S. equity offerings

SOURCE CUSIP Global Services