NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CUSIP Global Services (CGS) today announced the release of its CUSIP Issuance Trends Report for August 2012.  The report, which tracks the issuance of new security identifiers as an early indicator of debt and capital markets activity, suggests a seasonal slowdown in US corporate and municipal debt issuance and signs of incremental improvement in international debt issuance.

CUSIP requests for US corporate securities in decreased 10% in August, with orders totaling 1,563 in comparison to July results of 1,738 CUSIPS.  This is the second slowest month of new US corporate CUSIP issuance so far in 2012. Breaking out August data further, requests for US corporate debt identifiers fell to 759 and US equity identifier requests were down to 915, the lowest monthly totals since February 2012.

Municipal CUSIP requests also logged the second slowest month of the year, with 1,043 requests for new identifiers processed.  August marked the second month in a row of declining municipal CUSIP requests, following several months of significant increases.  Year-over-year, municipal CUSIP demand is still up by more than 43%, representing one of the strongest advances in CUSIP requests this year across all asset classes.

International debt CUSIP demand rose slightly for the second month in a down, but remains down 5% year-to-date.  Likewise, international equity CUSIP requests were up slightly over July levels, but remain down by more than 28% on a year-over-year basis.

"After months of steady growth in new CUSIP requests for US securities, we've seen our first slowdown in August," said Richard Peterson, Director, Global Markets Intelligence, S&P Capital IQ.  "While some of this is clearly the result of seasonality and a historically quiet August throughout the US capital markets, the trend is worth watching as a potential indicator of future market volumes."

To view a video commentary of this month's CUSIP issuance trends with Richard Peterson, please click here.

Following is a breakdown of new CUSIP identifier requests by asset class year-to-date through July 2012:

The CUSIP Global Services trends report is issued to the marketplace on a monthly basis.   For more information, 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 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.

(1) "International" Debt refers to market requests for CUSIP International Numbers ("CINS") for non-U.S. debt offerings

(2)  "International" Equity refers to market requests for CUSIP International Numbers ("CINS") for non-U.S. equity offerings

SOURCE CUSIP Global Services