Overall Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures (CUSIP) request volume has seen a “significant” surge in activity among corporate and municipal issuers in April, revealed CUSIP Global Services (CGS) in its monthly Issuance Trends report.
The spike in requests for identifier requests for both municipal and corporate debt securities as entities try to access liquidity has been linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Looking at corporate services, the report found that CUSIP identifier requests for the broad category of US- and Canada-issued equity and debt totalled 6,350 in April, up 12.1 percent from last month and 28.8 percent versus the same period in 2019.
The increase in volume was driven largely by a 12.3 percent monthly increase in requests for new US corporate debt identifiers, CGS said.
CGS also saw a significant 10.4 percent monthly increase in requests for bank certificates of deposit with maturities greater than one year. Requests for new US corporate equity identifiers fell 10.1 percent from March to April.
Meanwhile, regarding municipal securities, Municipal CUSIP request volume also increased sharply in April after declining in March.
According to CGS, the aggregate total of all municipal securities – including municipal bonds, long-term and short-term notes, and commercial paper – climbed 12.6 percent versus March totals.
On an annualized basis, municipal ID request volumes are up 7.8 percent through April. For municipal bonds specifically, the increase was 13.2 percent, CGS highlighted in the report.
Gerard Faulkner, director of operations for CGS, said: “Liquidity has been the one variable keeping the world’s central bankers awake at night, and they’ve been doing everything in their power to ensure access to capital.”
He added: “Based on CUSIP request volume for April, it is clear that corporate and municipal borrowers see an opportunity to raise new capital and they are getting into position to access
the debt markets.”
CGS is managed on behalf of the American Bankers Association by S&P Global Market Intelligence, with a board of trustees that represents the voices of financial institutions.
The report by CGS tracks the issuance of new security identifiers as an early indicator of debt and capital markets activity over the next quarter.
