The pilot program extending the assignment of CUSIP numbers to loans is now complete and The Loan Syndications Trading Association (LSTA) and Standard & Poor's plan to expand the identifiers to all syndicated loans. Almost 2,000 CUSIP numbers were assigned during the pilot program at the deal and facility level. Bank of America, Bank One, CIBC, Citigroup, Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank, FleetBoston Financial and J.P. Morgan took part in the pilot testing. This month the program will be extended to all loan market administrative agents.
In February, S&P will launch a syndicated loan service that provides CUSIP and CUSIP-based ISIN numbers along with core descriptive data for syndicated loan deals and facilities. The service will contain daily additions and changes to deals as released by agents.