Searching for Municipal Securities
EMMA provides three powerful tools for finding information about specific municipal
securities: Muni Search, 529 Plan Search and Advanced Muni Search. Descriptions
of how to use each of these search tools are provided below.
-
Quick Search Tips
- If you know the exact nine-character CUSIP number (CUSIP-9) of your bond or note,
use the Muni Search. Trade confirmations must, and most account statements do, include
the CUSIP-9 for each security, if one exists. Use the first 6 digits of a CUSIP
number (CUSIP-6) if you prefer to see a listing of issues of a particular issuer
or of a specific credit of an issuer. If you enter a CUSIP-9 when using the Advanced
Muni Search, all other inputs will be ignore; if you enter a CUSIP-6, any information
entered for Issuer Name or State will be ignored.
- If you know the name of your security (which may be printed on your trade confirmation
or account statement), enter a string of text into the Muni Search. You can also
enter the issuer name or issue description separately in the Advanced Muni Search.
Avoid using very common terms, which can bring back results numbering in the thousands.
- If you are looking for a 529 college savings plan, you must use the 529 Plan Search
- 529 plans are excluded from the Muni Search and Advanced Muni Search functions.
If a state has multiple 529 plans, you will be able to navigate to the specific
plan from your search result.
- If you know the exact maturity date, date of issuance or interest rate of a security,
you may enter it in just one of the two boxes in the range for that particular criteria
and EMMA will search for exact matches.
- If you do not have precise information about a specific security, your best approach
is to enter multiple criteria – here are some suggestions:
- If the issuer is an infrequent issuer, an Issuer Name search may provide you with
sufficiently limited results through which you can browse or further narrow by modifying
your search.
- If the bonds were issued for a specific borrower or "obligor" (for example, a hospital
group or an airline), try an Issue Description/Obligor search - however, a search
on an obligor name may not return a full set of issues for that obligor since obligor
name is not uniformly used in the Issue Description.
- Avoid searching solely on a single range (Maturity Date, Date of Issuance, Interest/Coupon
Rate) in Advanced Muni Search since this will most likely bring back results numbering
in the thousands. By combining fields, you should be able to bring back a reasonable
initial search result through which you can browse or further narrow by modifying
your search.
[Close]
-
About Muni Search
A Muni Search (the equivalent of a "simple search" on many sites) can
be conducted from virtually any page on EMMA. The criteria on which you may search in
Muni Search are as follows:
- CUSIP Number - either CUSIP-9 or CUSIP-6
- Name of Security Issue - a word search of the security title consisting of both
the Issuer Name and Issue Description
[Close]
-
About 529 Plan Search
A 529 Plan Search can be conducted from the Muni Search page. All searches for 529 college
savings plans are conducted based on State. To see all 529 college savings plans, choose ALL.
[Close]
-
About Advanced Muni Search
The Advanced Muni Search can be conducted from the Muni Search page. This type
of search provides you with the broadest variety of search criteria, as follows:
- CUSIP Number - either CUSIP-9 or CUSIP-6
- Issuer Name - a word search of the issuer name
- Issue Description - a word search of the issue description
- State - a drop-down menu of state of issuer
- Maturity Date - a date range within which a security matures
- Date of Issuance - a date range within which the security was issued
- Interest/Coupon Rate - a range of interest rates payable on the security
[Close]
-
How to Use Search Criteria
CUSIP Number
- What is a CUSIP Number?
CUSIP (Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures) numbers are the
basic identifiers for virtually all municipal bonds and notes by the CUSIP Service
Bureau of Standard & Poor's, a division of the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Each
security has a nine character CUSIP number (a CUSIP-9), usually a mix of numbers
and letters (ex., 123456AB7, sometimes with a space between the sixth and seventh
character). Each municipal issuer is assigned one or more unique six character codes
(a CUSIP-6) that serve as the first six characters of the CUSIP-9 for each security
issued by that issuer.
- How do I use CUSIP-9s and CUSIP-6s to search on EMMA?
CUSIP-9s are the easiest way to find information on EMMA about a specific bond or
note. Enter the CUSIP-9 into the Muni Search or in the CUSIP field of the Advanced
Muni Search (you can drop the last character in a CUSIP-9 search). If there is a
match, you will be taken directly to the detail page for that security. Since a
CUSIP-9 identifies a specific security, no other field should be used.
CUSIP-6s (the first six characters of a CUSIP-9) is a way to search for multiple
issues of an issuer. If the issuer has a single CUSIP-6, your search should return
all of that issuer's bond issues. If the issuer has more than one CUSIP-6, your
search will return a subset of that issuer’s issues (e.g., bonds secured by a particular
credit, securities issued for a particular purpose, bonds issued during a particular
timeframe). Often, you can find other issues of an issuer with multiple CUSIP-6s
by conducting an Issuer Name search using the exact name from the first CUSIP-6
search. Do not use Issuer Name or State when conducting a CUSIP-6 search since these
are already tied to the CUSIP-6.
- How do I find the CUSIP Number for my bond or note?
Look for CUSIP-9s on the trade confirmation or account statement you receive from
your broker-dealer or bank. If this information is not included in any materials
you receive from your broker-dealer or bank, you should contact your broker-dealer
or bank. In addition, you may search for information about your security on EMMA
using other search criteria. Note that a small number of municipal securities are
not assigned CUSIP numbers, in which case you will need to search on other criteria.
Issuer Name & Issue Description/Obligor
- Tell me about Issue Description/Obligor?
Standardized issuer names are used in connection with the assignment of CUSIP numbers.
These are the names upon which Issuer Name searches are based. These names include
a number of standardized or common abbreviations, and EMMA has incorporated into
its search functions a translation algorithm that should allow users to search on
many of the most often used standard abbreviations and their related plain English
equivalents interchangeably. Users are not required to enter the full name but can
search on specific words within a name.
- Tell me about Issue Description/Obligor?
Standardized terminology is used for issue descriptions when CUSIP numbers are assigned.
These issue descriptions are used for purposes of Issue Description/Obligor searches.
Issue descriptions include a number of standardized abbreviations, and EMMA has
incorporated into its search functions a translation algorithm that should allow
users to search on many of the most often used standard abbreviations and their
related plain English equivalents interchangeably. In many but not all cases, a
borrower or obligor that is the beneficiary of an issue may be named in the issue
description. Currently, the best way to search for an obligor in EMMA is through
the Issue Description/Obligor field, but there is no assurance that obligors will
always be identified in this way. Users may search on a full or partial issue description.
- How will EMMA search on my search terms?
If multiple terms are entered within a single field, EMMA will find matching records
containing all such terms in any order. If multiple terms are entered within quotation
marks (" "), then EMMA will find only exact matches for such multiple terms as entered.
State
EMMA provides a drop-down menu of states in the 529 Plan Search and Advanced Muni
Search. This is the state in which the municipal issuer of the securities is located.
Maturity Date
This is the date on which a bond or note matures and the principal amount is repaid
to the investor. If you know the exact maturity date, you may enter that date in
just one box in the Maturity Date range.
Date of Issuance
This criteria searches on three key dates related to the issuance of the securities:
the securities' dated date, which is the date from which interest on the securities
begins to accrue; the date on which the underwriter becomes contractually obligated
to purchase the new issue from the issuer (the "sale” date); and the date on which
the securities are delivered by the issuer to the underwriter and redelivered to
investors (the "settlement" or "closing" date). If you know the exact dated date,
sale date or closing date, you may enter it in just one box in the Date of Issuance
range.
Interest/Coupon Rate
This criteria searches on the interest rate, sometimes referred to as the "coupon
rate" of the bond or note, expressed as a percentage. This is different from yield,
which is the rate of return on an investment based on trade price and term of investment.
If you know the exact interest rate, you may enter that rate in just one box in
the Interest/Coupon Rate range.
- How do I search for variable rate debt or zero-coupon bonds?
Enter "0" (zero) in the case of zero-coupon securities, capital appreciation bonds
or other securities in which interest is not paid on a periodic basis but instead
is paid at maturity. The Interest/Coupon Rate range generally should not be used
to search for variable rate, auction rate or other types of securities for which
the rate is recalculated from time to time since the value is typically shown as
a blank, or “null”, which is not the equivalent of "0".
[Close]