Corporate and Municipal Bond Issuers Ramp up Pre-Market Activity in June

NEW YORK, July 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- CUSIP Global Services (CGS) today announced the release of its CUSIP Issuance Trends Report for June 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 surge in request volume for new corporate and municipal debt identifiers.

CUSIP identifier requests for the broad category of U.S.- and Canada-issued equity and debt totaled 5,072 in June, up 17.3% from last month. On a year-over-year basis, corporate CUSIP requests are up 9.1%. The June 2020 monthly volume increases were focused in U.S. corporate equity, which grew 38.8% versus May 2020, and U.S. corporate debt, which was up 15.5%.

Municipal CUSIP request volume grew for the third straight month in June. The aggregate total of all municipal securities ? including municipal bonds, long-term and short-term notes, and commercial paper ? climbed 14.7% versus May totals. This comes on top of a significant 53.1% increase the previous month. On an annualized basis, municipal CUSIP identifier request volumes are up 7.6% through June.

"We've been seeing continued signs of healthy liquidity in the municipal bond market for three straight months now, which is a clear indication that municipal borrowers are entering the market in a big way," said Gerard Faulkner, Director of Operations for CGS. "The corporate market has been quite a bit more volatile throughout the COVID-19 crisis, but we may now be seeing signs of pent-up demand, particularly in corporate equities, where we're tracking a surge in volume for new equity CUSIPs."

Requests for international equity and debt CUSIPs both grew in June for the second straight month. International equity CUSIP requests were up 60% in June and up 106.9% on a year-over-year basis. International debt CUSIPs increased 2.4% on a monthly basis and declined 5.9% on a year-over-year basis.

To view the full CUSIP Issuance Trends report for June, click here.

Following is a breakdown of new CUSIP Identifier requests by asset class year-to-date through June 2020:

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 91 national numbering agencies and 25 partner agencies representing 120 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