Municipal Bonds Lead Surge in CUSIP Volume, Signaling Growth in New Issuance

NEW YORK, April 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- CUSIP Global Services (CGS) today announced the release of its CUSIP Issuance Trends Report for March 2018. The report, which tracks the issuance of new security identifiers as an early indicator of debt and capital markets activity, found a monthly increase in volume of CUSIP requests for new corporate equities and debt and municipal bonds. This is suggestive of strong pace of new corporate and municipal issuance in the second quarter of 2018.

CUSIP identifier requests for the broad category of U.S. and Canadian corporate offerings, which includes both equity and debt, totaled 4,625 in March, up 9.0% from February. On a year-over-year basis, that puts total corporate identifier request volume for the first quarter of 2018 7.7% higher than the same period in 2017. Overall corporate request volume was driven by 1,037 new requests for U.S. corporate equity identifiers, 902 new requests for U.S. corporate debt identifiers, and 388 requests for combined Canadian corporate debt and equity identifiers.

Municipal CUSIP requests showed significant growth in March. The aggregate total of all municipal securities – including municipal bonds, long-term and short-term notes, and commercial paper – logged a 30.9% increase over February's activity. That surge in growth was driven primarily by a 37.9% increase in new municipal bond identifier requests. On a year-over-year basis, total municipal identifier request volume is down 27.6% versus the same period last year. Prior to March, municipal bond issuance had been trending downward following the implementation of the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act, which repeals advanced refunding of municipal bonds.

"The big story this month is the strong growth we're seeing in requests for new muni identifiers," said Gerard Faulkner, Director of Operations for CUSIP Global Services. "While March typically has a higher volume of muni issuance than January and February, this increase in demand for new muni identifiers is noteworthy following the declines we've been seeing ever since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was passed."

International debt and equity CUSIP International Numbers (CINS) also grew in March. International equity CINS were up 53.6% during the month, while international debt CINS increased 26.8% during the month. On a year-over-year basis, international equity requests were up 15.4% and international debt requests were up 6.8%, reflecting continued volatility in international markets.

To view a copy of the full CUSIP Issuance Trends report, please click here.

Following is a breakdown of New CUSIP Identifier requests by asset class year-to-date, through March 2018:

About CUSIP Global Services

The financial services industry relies on CGS' unrivaled experience in uniquely identifying instruments and entities to support efficient global capital markets. Its extensive focus on standardization over the past 50 years has helped CGS earn its reputation as a trusted originator of quality identifiers and descriptive data, ensuring that essential front- and back-office functions run smoothly. Relied upon worldwide as the industry standard provider of reliable, timely reference data, CGS is also a founding member and co-operates the Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA) Service Bureau, a global security and entity identifier database for over 34 million public and privately traded instruments, contributed by 92 national numbering agencies and 27 partner agencies representing 255 different countries. CGS is managed on behalf of the American Bankers Association (ABA) by S&P Global Market Intelligence, with a Board of Trustees that represents the voices of leading financial institutions. 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.

SOURCE CUSIP Global Services

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