ANNA Newsletter January, 2025

Dear Reader,

In this editorial, I am proud to reflect on the achievements of the past year and to share an outlook on our activities for the coming months.

First and foremost, I want to thank our members for their trust and cooperation — this remains the essential foundation for all our success. I would also like to acknowledge the outstanding efforts of the Board and Management Team, who go non-stop the extra mile. This year, we were delighted to welcome the experienced and well-known Sarah Tarawneh to the Board. I would also like to take this opportunity to extend my heartfelt thanks to Claudio Garin for his exceptional contributions over the past years.

The continuously growing number of ANNA members and partners impressively underlines the attractiveness and power of our global association. At our General Meeting in Warsaw in December, we welcomed 10 jurisdictions transitioning to full ANNA members, bringing the total to 113 full members. We also confirmed two designated, non-jurisdictional numbering agencies—Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB) and Etrading Software (ETS) — as ANNA Partners. They earned Partner status as Designated Numbering Agencies for OTC ISINs and XT ISINs for crypto assets. Additionally, two more NNAs joined the ISIN-LEI initiative, expanding coverage to 31 NNAs across 65 jurisdictions.

One of the year’s highlights was the opening of a dedicated office in Brussels, where we welcomed Alina Maxatova and Michael Akinbolusere as new administrative staff to the ANNA team.

Most importantly — being responsible for five ISO standards — we collectively fulfilled our obligations to the highest standard. 

On the ANNA Service Bureau (ASB) side, we reached a remarkable milestone by surpassing 13 million ISINs assigned by NNAs and reported to the ASB — the highest allocation ever recorded! In parallel, there is a steadily growing number of ASB customers that are served with high data quality by our ASB operators CUSIP and SIX. We are also currently developing for release this year a new state-of-the-art API to connect to the golden source of ISIN data.

The key achievement for the DSB through 2024 was the smooth rollout of the Unique Product Identifier (UPI) across major regions, including the United States of America, the European Union, United Kingdom, Australia and Singapore. 

These efforts were gratefully acknowledged by the financial community with multiple accolades in 2024. ANNA was named ‘Data Provider of the Year’ at the Asset Servicing Times Industry Excellence Awards and received a “Highly Commended” for  ‘Industry Collaboration of the Year, Digital Assets’ at the Regulation Asia Awards for Excellence.

In terms of market developments, the ANNA-DTIF Task Force updated the DTI-ISIN Guide, and ANNA submitted comments on the US FDTA proposals for common data standards. Looking ahead to 2025, the adoption of the UPI is already scheduled for Japan, Canada, and Hong Kong, with additional jurisdictions in consultation to follow. The DSB also plans to launch additional ancillary services to support participants of the global OTC derivatives market. 

The establishment of the ANNA Implementation Company (AIC) at the end of 2024 marked an important step in strengthening our operational framework. The Managing Director role for this will be filled as soon as possible. Together with the Identifier Engine Company, there is also the possibility to offer IT/operational services in the standardization business to third parties — stay tuned. 

With this recap and glimpse into the crystal ball regarding the ANNA activities in 2025, I believe it demonstrates just how much we are growing, supporting and serving the global financial industry. 

I wish you all a happy and successful New Year and hope to see all of you at our next General Meeting in June 2025 in Croatia at the latest.

Best wishes,

Torsten Ulrich
Chair of the Management Body, ANNA

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MARKET UPDATE

ANNA submits comments on the US FDTA proposals for common data standards London, 23rd October: ANNA commented on the FDTA common data standards proposal by US Agencies, supporting inclusion of the LEI, UPI and CFI as well as consideration for inclusion of DTI and a transparent cost benefit analysis and fit for purpose assessment for instrument identification.

ANNA-DTIF task force DTI-ISIN guide latest version 1.3 The ANNA-DTIF Task Force, in collaboration with industry stakeholders, released an updated version of the DTI-ISIN Guide, focusing on revising the criteria for the allocation of DTI  Functionally Fungible Groups (FFGs) and their relationship to XT ISINs to enhance clarity and consistency in the identification process

Finadium: ANNA hits 113 full members as more jurisdictions transition NNAs of Algeria, Botswana, El Salvador, Honduras, Jamaica, Macao, Maldives, UAE (DIFC), and Zambia transition to to full ANNA membership 

DSB, Global Numbering Agency for OTC derivatives, recognised as ANNA Partner ANNA recognised the Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB) as an Partner at its December General Meeting. The DSB is now one of the first global numbering agencies confirmed as an ANNA Partner for its issuance of ISINs, Classification of Financial Instruments (CFIs) and Financial Instrument Short Names (FISN) for OTC derivatives globally, in recognition of the global nature of this market.

ETS becomes the designated numbering agency responsible for issuing crypto assest ISINs ANNA also recognisedEtrading Software (ETS) as an ANNA Partner, designating it the responsibility for issuing crypto assest ISINs This aligns ETS with existing numbering agencies, furthering its mission to support market transparency and efficiency through the development and implementation of international standards.

Derivsource: The expanding role of identifers MD Emma Kalliomaki, shared insights on the expanding role of OTC derivatives identifiers in 2024 and how they will contribute to strengthening regulatory oversight in 2025 and beyond.

You can see all the latest ANNA updates by visiting the ANNA website. You can also stay up to date by following ANNA on X and Linkedin. 

You can see all the latest ANNA updates by visiting the ANNA website. You can also stay up to date by following ANNA on X and Linkedin.