Answered By: IESE Library
Last Updated: Mar 27, 2019     Views: 1123

CUSIP stands for Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures. A unique CUSIP number identifies most securities, including stocks of all registered U.S. and Canadian companies, and U.S. government, municipal and corporate bonds. This system is meant to facilitate the clearing and settlement process of securities. CUSIP Global Services, managed by Standard & Poor's on behalf of the American Bankers Association, assigns CUSIP numbers.

The number consists of nine characters (including letters and numbers) that uniquely identify a company or issuer and encodes the type of security. A similar system is used to identify foreign securities (CUSIP International Numbering System). In general, the first six digits are linked to the name of the party issuing the security. The next two characters identify the type of instrument (e.g. debt or equity) and identifies the issue. The final character is the result of a mathematical error-checking formula. Together these characters form a unique CUSIP specific to a particular security.

For more information about how the CUSIP process works, see https://www.cusip.com/cusip/index.htm.

Go to WRDS (you need to obtain your WRDS account). Choose CUSIP as your dataset. In addition, you can search for company CUSIPs using CRSP via WRDS (you need to obtain your WRDS account):

  • Choose Database
    • Select CRSP
    • Select Stock/Security Files, then Monthly Stock File
  • Look up CUSIPs
    • Scroll to Step Two on the search page
    • Set code format to CUSIP
    • Click Code lookup under Manually enter company codes; a new window will open
    • Type company name, e.g. General Electric, into search box; click Starts with
    • The company's CUSIP will be displayed in the search results

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