The global movement to shorter clearing and settlement cycles is driving reference data, symbology and unique instrument identification (UII) issues into the forefront of the financial information industry's agenda. This paper, issued jointly by the Reference Data User Gourp and Reference Data Coalition, reviews these issues and provides recommendation of the long term solution and codes of best practice.
The core problem is that there are too many security identification numbers, but none that uniquely identify all attributes required for precision. And the global financial industry needs identification numbers to be accurate to facilitate the objectives of automation and risk management.
The participants in RDUG and REDAC conclude that all instruments that are traded should have a number and that number should be accurate, timely, well maintained, precise and available on reasonable terms and conditions – for the full lifecycle of a transaction - from decision making to execution, through settlement, reporting, valuation and position keeping.
This paper describes the security identification challenges associated with global trading and outlines the requirements for unique and precise instrument identification.
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