Unique Product Identifier
Following the 2008 global financial crisis, the G20 mandated comprehensive reforms to enhance transparency and mitigate systemic risk in over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets. While transaction reporting was progressively introduced worldwide, identifying derivative products consistently across different financial institutions, market infrastructures, and jurisdictions remained a major challenge. The Unique Product Identifier (UPI) was created to serve as a globally standardized code that uniquely identifies the specific underlying OTC derivative instrument involved in a transaction, effectively bridging the gap between broad asset taxonomy and granular trade details.
Regulators worldwide, including the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong, have mandated the reporting of UPI in alignment with international commitments. By adhering to the regulatory frameworks established by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and CPMI-IOSCO ensures consistent reporting standards. This global adoption approach prevents regulatory fragmentation, streamlines compliance for cross-border market participants, and enables regulatory authorities to monitor market concentration, assess counterparty exposures, and conduct effective surveillance across interconnected financial systems.
Under the
CPMI-IOSCO UPI Technical Guidance and the international ISO 4914 standard, the UPI establishes a common reference framework. Utilizing this internationally agreed standard allows trade repositories, central banks, and prudential supervisors to aggregate OTC derivatives data for facilitating macroprudential analysis.
The UPI is a 12-character alphanumeric code generated and maintained exclusively by the ANNA Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB), the sole global UPI provider designated by the FSB. The UPI code itself is syntax-neutral, meaning the alphanumeric string carries no embedded product information. Instead, each code maps directly to an extensive reference dataset that details the specific product classification and attributes such as asset class, instrument type, underlying asset, payoff structure, and settlement currency.
The DSB product definition taxonomy categorizes OTC derivatives into five primary asset classes amongst others and they are: Rates, Credit, Foreign Exchange (FX), Equities, and Commodities. Within this framework, product definitions are structured using specific attribute types: core product selection inputs, user-supplied transaction fields, defaulted system parameters, and derived metadata (including ISO 10962 CFI codes and FISN short names). This standardized taxonomy guarantees that every generated UPI accurately reflects the underlying economic characteristics of the OTC derivative instrument.
For detailed technical integration, user onboarding, and to look up or generate codes, please visit the DSB website (
https://www.anna-dsb.com).
UPI Guide
https://cosp.anna-dsb.com/home#what-is-upi
UPI Product Definitions
https://www.anna-dsb.com/product-definitions1/