Issued by CUSIP Global Services, American Bankers Association, Standard & Poor's
Website
https://www.cusip.com/cusip/index.htm
Type
Security
Status
Private
Definition
The 9-character alphanumeric CUSIP code identifies any North American security for the purposes of facilitating clearing and settlement of trades. The CUSIP distribution system is owned by the American Bankers Association and is operated by Standard & Poor's. The CUSIP Service Bureau acts as the National numbering agency (NNA) for North America, and the CUSIP serves as the National Securities Identification Number for products issued from both the United States and Canada.
Additional Information
The first six characters are known as the base (or CUSIP-6), and uniquely identify the issuer. Issuer codes are assigned alphabetically from a series that includes deliberate built-in "gaps" for future expansion. The 7th and 8th digit identify the exact issue. The 9th digit is an automatically generated checksum (some clearing bodies ignore or truncate the last digit). The last three characters of the issuer code can be letters, in order to provide more room for expansion.
Wikipedia Entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CUSIP