CUSIP Global Services and SIX deliver improved technology capabilities for the ASB

The Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA), a global association dedicated to the support of efficient capital markets through the use of widely embraced ISO standards, today announced the successful release of an improved and modernised ANNA Service Bureau (ASB). Among the key technology and infrastructure enhancements that will benefit both numbering agencies and ASB clients alike are: streamlined data processing, improved communication between contributors, a new look and feel for the user interface and additional data elements related to the 2020 revision of the ISIN ISO 6166 standard.

The ASB, originally established in 2001, is operated jointly by CUSIP Global Services (CGS) and SIX to collect and share data on three critical ISO standards related to financial instruments: International Securities Identification Numbers (ISINs), Classification of Financial Instrument codes (CFIs), and Financial Instrument Short Names (FISNs). Operating as a central hub of financial instrument identifier information, the ASB receives and consolidates ISINs, FISNs and CFIs and associated data contributed by a federated group of 117 National Numbering Agencies (NNAs), providing coverage across more than 200 jurisdictions. In addition to making this information available to NNAs, the ASB offers a free ISIN lookup as well as subscription data services for market participants. 

There are two planned phases of enhancements to the ASB. The first phase, which was rolled out on 18 September 2021, includes infrastructure developments to the ASB service. This will be followed by a further phase in 2022 to introduce new data elements resulting from the 2020 revision of the ISO 6166 ISIN standard, including the associated data validations, as well as incorporation into the relevant ISIN look-up and subscription services. Future phases will build on the current enhancements, bringing more efficiency and transparency to the global financial markets, which have come to depend on the ISIN standard (ISO 6166) to trade, clear and settle a wide variety of financial instruments. 

Some of the key changes include the migration of the platform to a cloud-based infrastructure (with dual instances for redundancy purposes) allowing for reduced latency and additional security. A newly designed user interface will be introduced with an integrated data quality dashboard, a data challenge ticketing system and enhanced search and download capabilities. This will allow for more streamlined data processing, increased transparency and improved communication between the NNA contributors, and the ability to undertake improved data analytics.  An additional subscription service will also become available, giving users the ability to extract customised data for a specific portfolio of financial instruments.

Stephan Dreyer, MD of ANNA, said, “We are delighted with these technology enhancements to the ASB being delivered by the ASB operators, CUSIP Global Services and SIX. The ASB provides a core service to all the NNAs, serving as a central repository of ISIN and other standards data. When maintaining data standards globally, with more and more users using the ASB, these enhancements to the service will give NNAs an improved user experience and more effective tools for data management, as well as the ability to deliver high quality reference data to market participants.”

“This significant upgrade in the ASB’s underlying technology and data quality assurance capabilities would not have been possible without close collaboration between a group of industry leaders who are so committed to improving financial markets infrastructure and we are pleased to be a part of that team," said Scott Preiss, Managing Director, Global Head of CUSIP Global Services. "As global markets and associated product offerings become more complex, and transaction volumes and associated risk continue to rise, the seamless communication and improved data sharing of the ANNA Service Bureau will better serve market participants with distinction for years to come.”

“The ANNA Service Bureau continues to represent a beacon of reliability and data integrity,” said Marion Leslie, Head Financial Information and Executive Board Member, SIX.  “We are proud of our continued, successful collaboration with our partners at ANNA, CUSIP Global Services and the global numbering agencies to deliver critical data solutions that drive the global markets.”