Project to improve secondary market disclosure by providing CUSIP numbers to
Municipal Issuers
New York, Nov. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Standard & Poor's CUSIP Service Bureau
(CSB) announced today the availability of the Municipal Disclosure Assistance
Service whereby Municipal issuers will be able to obtain current CUSIP
information for their state or authority's securities for use in disclosure
reporting.
The CUSIP Service Bureau, operated by Standard & Poor's for the American
Bankers Association since 1968, exists primarily to provide unique identifiers
for issuers of securities and their financial instruments within a standard
nine-character framework. CUSIP numbers are copyrighted and used virtually by
all sectors of the financial industry, and are critical for the accurate and
efficient clearance and settlement of securities as well as back office
processing.
"The CUSIP Service Bureau is pleased to offer unprecedented access to the
CUSIP database for the benefit of all municipal market participants," says
Scott Preiss, Vice President at Standard & Poor's. "The addition of CUSIP
information on NRMSIR filings and Official Statements serves to connect a
municipal security for events such as a rating change. This progressive action
on the part of Municipal issuers directly supports secondary market
disclosure," continues Preiss.
After meeting with representatives from the Government Finance Officers
Association (GFOA), SEC and Bond Market Association, CUSIP has agreed to
develop an online service to help improve secondary market disclosure for tax-
exempt issuers. These industry groups are encouraging municipal issuers to
use CUSIP numbers on NRMSIR filings and Official Statements.
Until the Issuer Access online service is available in the first quarter
of 2003, CUSIP will provide issuers or their authorized representatives with
the most current CUSIP information on an ad-hoc basis. Information provided
will include CUSIP number, Issuer and Security Description, Coupon, Maturity,
Dated Date and Series Information.
SEC Rule 15c2-12 requires increased disclosure for tax-exempt issuers in
the case of material events such as a ratings change. The CUSIP system, an
ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standard, is widely used within
the securities industry to uniquely identify and register securities by
providing standard numbers and legal descriptions. This standard provides an
effective mechanism that allows municipal issuers the ability to tag material
events under the SEC Rule 15c2-12 disclosure requirement.
Standard & Poor's CUSIP Service Bureau is developing a customized online
service to allow municipal issuers to view, print or download their
securities. The Issuer Access web service, with updates in real time, contains
CUSIPs on all municipal offerings including those not directly assigned for
the issuer, such as issues that have been pre-refunded or secondarily insured.
For more information, municipal market participants may call the Municipal
Disclosure Assistance line at (212) 438-6518.
Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, is a leading
provider of financial data, analytical research and investment and credit
opinions to the global capital markets. Among the company's many products are
the S&P Global 1200, the first real-time, global equity index, the S&P 500,
the premier U.S. portfolio index, and credit ratings on more than 220,000
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countries, Standard & Poor's is an integral part of the world's financial
architecture.
Additional information is available at http://www.standardandpoors.com.
Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies is a global information
services provider meeting worldwide needs in the financial services, education
and business information markets through leading brands such as Standard &
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information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com.
SOURCE Standard & Poor's
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