About a-team Marketing Services
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry

A-Team Insight Blogs

CUSIP Global Services seeks new owner as regulator requires S&P Global to divest the company to progress merger with IHS Markit

Subscribe to our newsletter

CUSIP Global Services (CGS) is looking for a new owner following the European Commission’s phase one approval of the $44 billion merger of S&P Global and IHS Markit. While the merger will create a financial data and analytics powerhouse large enough to challenge market leaders Bloomberg and the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), including Refinitiv, the regulatory approval stipulates that S&P must divest CGS.

These are early days in identifying a buyer for CGS, the provider of securities identifiers that are woven into the fabric of global financial markets, but among those that might step in are big exchange operators such as the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) that has made aggressive moves into data through acquisitions including Refinitiv, the FTSE Group and Russell Indexes. Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) could also be in the frame as it builds up its data services division, most recently with extended provision of ESG data.

Alternatively, CGS could be taken in by a regulated organisation in which it can be ringfenced as an entity issuing identifiers on a non-commercial basis. This would be a significant change as the company currently has a steady and recurring revenue stream. Names in the frame here include the likes of DTCC and SWIFT.

Looking into the background of CGS, the American Bankers Association (ABA) introduced the CUSIP system with CGS in 1968 to improve operating efficiencies by developing a standard method of identifying securities. Considering the divestiture of CGS post the merger of S&P Global and IHS Markit, Rob Nichols, ABA president and CEO, said in a joint statement with CGS: “For more than 50 years, the American Bankers Association and S&P Global have worked together as partners to successfully operate the CUSIP system. We will continue to work together to find a suitable buyer for CUSIP Global Services that is capable of onboarding the current staff and operations of CGS and committed to seamlessly delivering CUSIP’s trusted service and reliability.”

Scott Preiss, managing director and global head of CUSIP Global Services, said in the statement: “The dedicated, professional team at CGS will continue to deliver the world-class service, reliability and innovation the global securities market has come to expect of CUSIP for more than 50 years. CUSIP operations will remain unchanged, and we look forward to supporting market participants in every way.”

We’ll update you on the CGS sale just as soon as we have more information to share with you.

Meantime, the S&P Global and IHS Markit merger rumbles on, subject to further review and approval by global regulators and antitrust authorities, and now expected to be closed in the first quarter of 2022.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Recorded Webinar: Streamlining trading and investment processes with data standards and identifiers

Financial institutions are integrating not only greater volumes of data for use across their organisation but also more varieties of data. As well, that data is being applied to more use cases than ever before, especially regulatory compliance and ESG integration. Due to this increased complexity of institutions’ data needs, however, information often arrives into...

BLOG

Gresham Enhances Investment Management Reconciliation Platform with New Web Interface and API

Gresham Technologies, a global provider of enterprise data automation solutions for the financial services sector, has announced a significant update to its reconciliation platform, Control for Investment Management, which introduces a streamlined web-based interface aimed at improving daily oversight of critical data, while preserving the platform’s core reconciliation capabilities. New functionality includes an API designed...

EVENT

TradingTech Briefing New York

Our TradingTech Briefing in New York is aimed at senior-level decision makers in trading technology, electronic execution, trading architecture and offers a day packed with insight from practitioners and from innovative suppliers happy to share their experiences in dealing with the enterprise challenges facing our marketplace.

GUIDE

AI in Capital Markets: Practical Insight for a Transforming Industry – Free Handbook

AI is no longer on the horizon – it’s embedded in the infrastructure of modern capital markets. But separating real impact from inflated promises requires a grounded, practical understanding. The AI in Capital Markets Handbook 2025 provides exactly that. Designed for data-driven professionals across the trade life-cycle, compliance, infrastructure, and strategy, this handbook goes beyond...