NEW YORK, Aug. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CUSIP Global Services (CGS) announced the expansion of its CUSIP Options Service to cover Canadian equity, ETF and index options that trade on the Montreal Exchange.  The addition of Canadian options builds on an alliance with FOW TRADEDATA, a United Kingdom-based financial information provider specializing in futures and options products that helped develop the CUSIP identification system for equity, ETF and index options listed on U.S. exchanges.

The U.S. and Canadian Options Services provide unique CUSIP IDs for equity, ETF and index options,  along with accompanying ISINs and related data elements such as strike price, contract name, exchange code and underlying symbol.  Market participants can receive the CUSIP Options Service directly from CGS or via an authorized market data vendor.

The CUSIP Options Service provides 9-character CUSIP numbers and 12-character ISINs for each contract strike price. FOW TRADEDATA is the source of the contract data covering all the major options exchanges in the U.S. and Canada. The CUSIP Options Service contains unique identifiers that will not conflict with other CUSIPs. The letter C (call) and P (put) in the third position of the CUSIP will be reserved for option CUSIPs.  Both the U.S. and Canadian Options Services provide mapping back to the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) 21-character codes, Options Price Reporting Authority (OPRA) 17-character codes and the underlying equity's CUSIP, ISIN, Ticker and International Organization for Standards (ISO) Market Identifier Codes (MIC).

"The launch of our CUSIP Options Service in Canada is a prime example of industry collaboration to create efficient solutions for the capital markets," said Jim Taylor, Managing Director, CGS.  "We believe this new coverage will help global firms accurately and efficiently track options in their security masters and we remain committed to providing new identifiers for an ever-expanding range of asset classes."

For more information about the CUSIP Options Service, please visit www.cusip.com. 

About CUSIP Global Services

For 40 years CUSIP Global Services has provided a unique common language for identifying financial instruments across institutions, exchanges and nations, enabling financial services firms to benefit from improved operating efficiencies and substantially reduced administrative costs. CUSIP Global Services is operated by the CUSIP Service Bureau (CSB). CSB is managed on behalf of the American Bankers Association by Standard & Poor's. For more information, visit www.cusip.com.

About FOW TRADEDATA

FOW TRADEDATA has provided Product Reference Data to many global Banks and Financial houses since 1995.  FOW TRADEDATA products give reliable access to the most up to date information available for futures and options products, which is essential for accurate and timely settlement of trades. www.fowtradedata.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