CUSIP: A common language for common markets

Experience, Technology, Process, Innovation: These four pillars have driven the growth of the CUSIP system globally for over 50 years.

• Experience: Five decades as a dedicated standards practitioner. With 1000-2000 new, unique identifiers and related descriptive data added daily, the CUSIP database contains data on over 44 million instruments and their issuers.
• Process: A rigorous, time-tested process to extract and standardize data the financial markets can trust for all trading, clearance and settlement activities. The result? A profile of critical descriptive data and the resulting identifier that powers the capital markets.
• Technology: Cutting-edge options to access the data, including direct web tools, APIs and FTP delivery for bulk files, plus state-of-the-art disaster recovery and business continuity infrastructure.
• Innovation: A rich tradition of working with partners and market authorities – from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board – to continually expand into new asset classes and geographies.

As we look ahead at opportunities in OTC derivatives, private markets, and physical precious metals, it’s clear the spirit of innovation and continuous reinvestment on behalf of the financial industry lives on at CUSIP Global Services. With insight and guidance from the American Bankers Association and our industry appointed Board of Trustees, our efforts to expand and develop new standards are always driven with one goal in mind: to improve efficiency and bring reliability to all sectors of the global financial markets.