Modernised ANNA Service Bureau (ASB): Key technology and infrastructure enhancements to benefit numbering agencies and ASB clients released today

Modernised ANNA Service Bureau (ASB): Key technology and infrastructure enhancements to benefit numbering agencies and ASB clients released today

(PRESS RELEASE) ZURICH, 23-Sep-2021 — /EuropaWire/ — The Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA), the membership organisation of national numbering agencies dedicated to the support of efficient capital markets through the use of widely embraced ISO standards, has announced the successful release of an improved and modernised ANNA Service Bureau (ASB) delivered by SIX, the operator of the Swiss and Spanish Stock Exchanges, and CUSIP Global Services, the trusted originator of quality identifiers worldwide and the industry standard as a provider of reliable, timely reference data.

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.”

For more information about the ASB, please visit: https://www.anna-web.org/service-bureau/about-the-anna-service-bureau/. Register for access to the free ISIN Lookup Service here: https://www.annaservice.com/anna/annaisin/login.jsp.

About Anna
Established in 1992 by 22 founding numbering agencies, ANNA is the membership organisation of national numbering agencies, which are operated by depositories, exchanges, government agencies, nationally central data vendors and other financial infrastructure organisations. ANNA also serves as the registration authority for the ISIN and FISN standards, under appointment by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
Under ANNA’s stewardship, the role of the ISIN in enabling global financial communications has been established worldwide. ISINs are issued today more than 200 jurisdictions worldwide. In addition, ANNA has developed the Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB), a fully automated global numbering agency to meet the operational and regulatory requirements of the over-the-counter derivatives markets. The number of national numbering agencies and nations working to establish national numbering agencies continues to grow each year, now surpassing 120 jurisdictions globally. For information about ANNA, its members and activities, please visit www.anna-web.org/.

About CUSIP Global Services
The financial services industry relies on CUSIP Global Services’ (CGS) unrivaled experience in uniquely identifying instruments and entities to support efficient global capital markets. Its extensive focus on standardization over the past 50 years has helped CGS earn its reputation as a trusted originator of quality identifiers and descriptive data, ensuring that essential front- and back-office functions run smoothly. Relied upon worldwide as the industry standard provider of reliable, timely reference data, CGS is also a founding member and co-operates the Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA) Service Bureau, a global security and entity identifier database for over 34 million public and privately traded instruments, contributed by 91 national numbering agencies and 25 partner agencies representing 120 different countries. CGS is managed on behalf of the American Bankers Association (ABA) by S&P Global Market Intelligence, with a Board of Trustees that represents the voices of leading financial institutions. For more information, visit www.cusip.com.

About SIX
SIX operates and develops infrastructure services for the Swiss and Spanish Stock Exchanges, for Post-Trade Services, Banking Services and Financial Information with the aim of raising efficiency, quality and innovative capacity across the entire value chain of the Swiss and Spanish financial centers. The company is owned by its users (121 banks). With a workforce of some 3,500 employees and a presence in 20 countries, it generated operating income of CHF 1.38 billion and Group net profit of CHF 439.6 million in 2020.
www.six-group.com

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Julian Chan
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SOURCE: SIX