Demand for New Municipal Identifiers Rises 18%
NEW YORK, Oct. 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — CUSIP Global Services (CGS) today announced the release of its CUSIP Issuance Trends Report for September 2020. The report, which tracks the issuance of new security identifiers as an early indicator of debt and capital markets activity over the next quarter, found a significant increase in request volume for new corporate and municipal debt identifiers.
CUSIP identifier requests for the broad category of U.S. and Canadian equity and debt totaled 4,816 in September, up 17.4% from last month. On a year-over-year basis, corporate CUSIP requests are up 10.5%. September volumes were driven by an 84.9% monthly increase in requests for corporate debt identifiers and an 18.1% monthly increase in requests for corporate equity identifiers.
Municipal requests also climbed in September. The aggregate total of all municipal securities – including municipal bonds, long-term and short-term notes, and commercial paper – surged 18% versus August totals. On an annualized basis, municipal CUSIP identifier request volumes were up 12.6% through September.
“Record low interest rates and lingering fears of a possible liquidity crunch throughout most of this year have not materially slowed the pace of new capital creation in the major fixed income and equity asset classes,” said Gerard Faulkner, Director of Operations for CGS. “While we continue to see month-to-month volatility in CUSIP request volume, the overall direction in U.S. corporate and municipal securities continues to trend positive so far this year.”
Requests for international equity and debt CUSIPs were mixed in September. International equity CUSIP requests were down 29.1% versus August. International debt CUSIPs increased 66.8% on a monthly basis. Syndicated loan requests were up 37.9% on a monthly basis and down 31% year over year.
To view the full CUSIP Issuance Trends report for September, click here.