Cusip Now alert service on new issues activated

The service is available at no additional cost to all licensed Cusip customers and utilizes "push technology" to deliver new Cusip issues and reference data to market participants every 15 minutes.

"This rapid delivery of new issue date is designed to assist asset managers, institutional investors, bankers and other financial professionals stay on top of new issues," says Jim Taylor, Managing Director, Standard & Poor's Cusip Service Bureau. "Additionally, it allows users to quickly identify new issue reference data thereby increasing their effectiveness by enabling less time to be spent on research and more time on complex tasks."

Cusip Now delivers Cusip data via FTP file downloads to client databases, enabling firms to manage financial instruments more efficiently using the intelligent and globally trusted Cusip numbering system. The service is particularly timely for the bond markets given recently shortened MSRB (Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board) trade reporting guidelines. Cusip Now currently includes corporate debt and equity issues, as well as competitive and negotiated municipal bond offerings that are registered with the Cusip Service Bureau. Subsequent releases of the Cusip Now service planned for 2007 will include additional Cusip based identifiers. Cusip subscribers who wish to receive Cusip Now new issue alerts can now register.