ISIN Issuance and ISIN Eligibility Services
The ISIN Issuance service provides entities involved with the issuance of new marketable securities with the ability to request and purchase ISIN and CUSIP® identifiers online.
The ISIN Eligibility service enables entities to request eligibility assessment and acceptance of marketable securities within CDSX®, the CDS clearing and depository system.
ISIN Issuance and Eligibility requests are accepted for the following security types:
- Equity Issues
- Long Term Debt Issues
- Medium Term Note Programs
- Money Market Instruments
- National Housing Act Securities
- Strip Bond Packages, Coupon and Residual Components
Both services are required for securities held on deposit with CDS.
Please view the following guide for an overview of the ISIN Issuance and Eligibility process, timing and requirements.
ISIN
ISIN (International Security Identification Number) is an international code that uniquely identifies securities. Every CDSX® eligible security requires an ISIN.
The Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA) is committed to the use of standard identifiers to make the financial world a more efficient, safer and more stable environment for investors and the financial institutions that serve them. Securities from more than 120 nations are identified by ISIN numbers. No matter where a security was first issued, an ISIN enables it to be recognized and traded between buyers and sellers virtually anywhere in the world. CDS is the National Numbering Agency (NNA) in Canada that assigns ISIN numbers to each new security issued. For more information about ANNA and Global standards, please visit www.anna-web.org.
CUSIP®
CUSIP® (Committee on Uniform Security Identification Procedures) is a standard system of securities identification and securities description that is used in electronically processing and recording securities transactions in North America. A CUSIP® number uniquely identifies a Canadian or American security and its issuer.
As a service bureau to the Canadian financial industry, CDS Clearing and Depository Services Inc. coordinates the assignment of ISIN and CUSIP® numbers with CUSIP Global Services.
CUSIP® is a registered trademark of the American Bankers Association.
Securities Services - Billing Acknowledgement & Agreement
Fees for Corporate Action Event Management Services were effective March 1, 2017. Issuers receive an invoice from CDS at the end of each applicable month with the transaction quantities identified. For securities not covered by the terms of a Book-Entry Only Securities Services Agreement, issuers are required to provide CDS with the Securities Services Billing Acknowledgement & Agreement as part of the CDS eligibility process.
Issuers should attach and include the Agreement when submitting an eligibility request to CDS and may download it here.
Cessation of accepting new issues in a physical format
As part of CDS's longstanding and ongoing efforts to dematerialize the securities which CDS holds for our Participants, and given the evolving nature of the Canadian Capital Markets, CDS requested regulatory approval to cease accepting physical securities certificates. CDS has now received this regulatory approval, and, effective September 1st, 2017, CDS will not be accepting physical certificates for new securities issues coming to market.
CDS Participant Procedures will, as of September 1, 2017, be amended to remove reference to, and to eliminate, an issuer's option to submit physical security certificates for the purpose of evidencing a security position at CDS. The list of acceptable security certification types for any new eligible security, as and after August 31, 2017, will not include physical certificates. Minor changes to the ISIN Issuance/Eligibility applications will be implemented, effective September 1, 2017 to remove the option for issuers to request a new security in physical format.
The existing physical certificates will not be made ineligible and CDS continues to work with issuers of existing physical certificates to dematerialize these.
For more information about these changes, see the attached notice of MATERIAL AMENDMENTS TO CDS PROCEDURES AND SECURITIES ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA CESSATION OF ELIGIBILITY OF PHYSICAL CERTIFICATES FOR DEPOSIT AT CDS NOTICE approved by the regulators.