Accessing all the CUSIP Bond Data

CUSIP Bond Data

With millions of bonds being issued and traded it has been imperative that a very precise classification system would be in place to correctly identify the financial instruments it represents, worldwide. But it has become very complex, to gain access to these unique identifiers, since there are millions of it trading constantly.

The CUSIP system, owned by the American Bankers Association and managed by Standard & Poor’s, serves as the National Securities Identification Number (NSIN) for products issued from both USA and Canada. To avoid going into detail about the CUSIP numbers again, I would suggest you to read my previous blog post “The BPV tool as the new CUSIP source” to understand more about its basics. On this post, we are going to be more focused on why is it so difficult to have access to these unique identifiers and the one solution that is giving you direct access to all of the CUSIP numbers out there.

The fiduciaries who have already gained some experience in the bond industry are well aware of the challenges of getting access to any CUSIP number, so you can actually know the available security options and real-market pricing. This is why investment decisions become so complicated. When you do not have direct access to all of the information you need to make good decisions, it is rare that you get it right without a couple of losses on the way. And maybe more like millions of dollars in losses when you do not have a diverse bond portfolio, and do not look after the right time to buy and the right type of fixed income security to purchase.

Unfortunately, when it comes to the investment of public funds, it might affect not only the investor but his whole team and the whole group of constituents they report to, so why expose a bond portfolio with the risk of losing millions of dollars?

As a fiduciary and an investor, is imperative to acknowledge the significance of having access to accurate CUSIP data when looking into buying fixed income securities. But also, to understand the data that comes with it, those numbers to look after like interest rate risk first and foremost!

So, if we all know that then, why hand over the job to the broker without informing yourself better? They could use some help when they call you and recommend something for you to buy, because if you have the information about that security, then you can easily make a confident decision on buying it or waiting for something else. Something that may give you better returns, at a better time, all for safety purposes.

But this information we are talking about, has not been easy to access. Before PFITR, you would have to find and consult all kinds of different sources in order to get a very specific piece of data from the bond market. Or pay thousands of dollars for a tool that gives you an overload of information and it is very complex to use, all of that, just to get this one piece of data.

Why? Cause it’s been monopolized, scattered around in diverse sources, and making it almost impossible for you to find, if you are not part of a brokerage firm that would make it their job to access this information no matter the cost, the complexities of finding CUSIP numbers to consult on specific Munis, Mortgage bonds, Treasuries etcetera, might be overwhelming, but this is about to change. With today’s technology and the entrepreneurial spirit of a couple of people, we get to have a new solution that will become the source of all the Bond market data; and not just that but a powerful solution that allows you to have clarity over the information you must look after before making an investment decision. Our fin    tech startup PFITR is making a huge impact in the bond market industry by providing transparent information from all the CUSIP numbers you may consider to purchase, all in one place and one place only, the Bond Price Validation (BPV) tool.

Before going into detail about PFITR and its services, I want to make the remark about the one ultimate truth we all know, we all want to make money and in the case of the fiduciaries, they should want to do it with responsibility and transparency. But due to the lack of transparent data, updated investment guidance, and easy access to information, most of the time the investors are left without knowing the exact bond price, nor the available securities (the whole menu of bonds) they could choose from to find the most suitable financial instruments for their investment policies.

The founder of PFITR, Jim Koetting, who himself was a bond investor, bond agent and investment advisor, developed the online investment solution the Bond Price Validation  (BPV) tool, that helps every fiduciary to have direct access to transparent bond market information to make the best-informed investment decisions according to the rules that are ‘answered’ with the analytics offered in the tool: what to buy, when to buy it and at what price, which satisfies the three most common mandates of any policy: safety, liquidity and yield.

Though we have many different sources in the market that provide the bond data, the major drawback is, that they are either too complex to use, they come with an overload of information, you need to be subscribed to a specific service to access the data, pay for an expensive tool to get it, and figure out how to interpret the analytics that are being shown; with no guidance whatsoever, it’s easier to pass this responsibility to somebody else, somebody who would solely focus on this matter and represent an extra salary or expense in the case of hiring a whole financial service to manage this. Not anymore.

PFITR’s BPV tool is a user-friendly solution, that provides you with all the bonds available to purchase, and all of the information you require to satisfy your policy’s mandates: safety, liquidity and yield. No extra information that confuses the users. And all this, at an affordable price.

Benefit of using PFITR’s BPV Tool

The bond market is not very transparent and bonds are marked as much as the market will allow. Often the buyer has no idea how much concession is built into the price of a  bond.  Some successful bond sales people can make over 1 million a year in commission income (in under a year) working with institutions who buy without vetting the timing, risk,  and current market value of the investment before make a purchase.  

So, to minimize the marks in a bond and to negotiate a better deal, PFITR’s BPV tool comes in handy. It includes transparent bond information, that will show the market value of the bond as soon as you enter the “CUSIP number.” With the algorithms and pricing obtained by PFITR to facilitate this unbiased data to its users, they immediately become more knowledgeable when consulting the different graphs and analytics provided for each CUSIP number that has been accessed through this tool.

This is PFITR’S vision, “To empower bond investors and agents to be better stewards of their portfolios, through education and innovative tools that equip them to make better informed decisions.”

So even though, no one can become an expert in any field in a day or two, the PFITR team will complement its technology with the right guidance according to each user’s portfolio.

Information is key to success when dealing with the largest market in the world, the bond market and PFITR wants to bring ease and transparency to it. The BPV tool is the source of all CUSIP numbers and provides key information such as the Issuer details, maturity date, Coupon rate, coupon type, call date, Yield To Maturity (YTD data) and more.

Experience this new technology and our personalized customer service: https://www.pfitr.com/bpv-tool/