We are analysing issuance trends of UK borrowers of Commercial Paper and Certificates of Deposit year to date until the 30th April, 2026. More specifically we compare Bank of England's 29th May, 2026 Capital Issuance Statistics release with ISIN by ISIN data available on CMDportal. There are however substantial differences in aggregate numbers potentially impacting the analysis outcome. See the 'Where is this Data Coming from?' below to understand the data and the filters used.
Quick Take:
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Broad Agreement in April: Issuance volumes in April broadly aligned with CMDportal reporting aggregate issuance (ex. SSA) of GBP 40.8bn compared to the BoE's GBP 41.5bn — a gap of GBP 0.6bn (1.5%). Sectorally, the two sources broadly align with CMDportal reporting more CRP activity offset by lower FIG activity compared to the BoE.
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Cumulative Issuance Volumes Diverge: Cumulative issuance over the past twelve months differed significantly, with CMDportal reporting GBP426.0bn, GBP 58.2bn (15.8%) above the BoE.
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Definitional Discrepancies: This gap is likely structural, potentially explained by differing treatments of Certificates of Deposit (CDs). While both sources exclude Sterling-denominated CDs with GB ISINs, the BoE may exclude other negotiable CDs that CMDportal includes.
- Lets Agree the Data: This finding complements CMDI's work identifying persistent under reporting on the Sterling CD (view the full research here). Without public-private collaboration at the security identifier level, regulators are "steering by inconsistent numbers" that fail to reflect the borderless economic reality of UK short-term funding. We would welcome Bank of England and ONS collaboration to fix the data.
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