Debt Securities Return (Form IPA)
UK Issuing and Paying Agents (IPAs) are required, under the Bank of England
Act (1998), to complete and deliver Form IPA to the Bank of England by the 7 th
working day after the end of the relevant month. This note gives guidance on
how this should be done.
Assistance
If you need further assistance please contact the Securities Statistics team at the
Bank of England – tel 020 7601 4763, or email IPAform@bankofengland.co.uk.
Reporting
This form should be completed monthly, and sent as an email attachment to
IPAform@bankofengland.co.uk within seven working days of the end of the
reporting month. IPAs are welcome to deliver their return early if complete
information is available.
The attached file should be named according to the following convention, with
each component separated by an underscore „_‟:
Data Provider This is the unique Bank of England code for each
Identifier IPA – please ask if you don‟t know what yours is.
Data File Format Type This would be an identifier such as XLS for
spreadsheet format or XML for XML format. It is used
by the Bank‟s data load process to determine how
the file should be read.
Business Month The reporting month in YYYYMM (e.g. 200309) style
File Generation In the event that the IPA needs to resend the same
Number file the generation number is used to distinguish this
version of the file from any previous versions.
Record Counter A counter of the expected number of transactions
included within the file where a transaction is either
A Bond Issue
A Bond Repayment
A monthly Commercial Paper Aggregate.
For example: ABCDE_xls_200404_001_000152.xml
Please ensure the reporting month (YYYYMM) is included in cell C2 on each
sheet.
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Purpose
The aggregated statistics are used to assess the volume of new capital being
raised and repaid in debt securities instruments each month by companies
across different economic sector classifications. These estimates are used
within the Bank of England (for example, by the Monetary Policy Committee) and
by Office for National Statistics in preparing the UK National and Financial
Accounts. They are published by the Bank of England in a monthly Press
Release and in Monetary and Financial Statistics – both available on the Bank‟s
website www.bankofengland.co.uk.
Requirements
Form IPA is divided into three sections:
Issuance of Bonds (complete one row for each security)
Repayment of Bonds (complete one row for each security)
Commercial Paper (complete one row for each issuer and currency)
In the first two sections IPAs are required to report details of every Bond issued
or repaid (either in part or in total) during the reporting month, for which they act
either in their own capacity or as the IPA.
In the third section IPAs are required to report, for each currency, total issuance
and repayment of Commercial Paper by each issuer during the reporting month.
IPAs should also report the Principal/nominal amount outstanding at the end of
the reporting month, by currency, for each issuer, even if no transactions have
occurred during the month Again, this covers all issues and all repayments for
which they act either in their own capacity or as the IPA.
Information relating to overseas issuers (except those with a UK parent) issuing
in foreign currencies on overseas markets is provided outside the scope of the
Bank of England Act 1998.
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Detailed guidance (cross refers to items on the Form)
Item 1: International Standard Identification Number (ISIN)
Insert the ISIN (e.g. XS0076371284) for every bond issued, including those
where the price is zero, e.g. those issued as part of a debt restructuring. ISINs
are only applicable for standalone and programme bonds (Sections 1 and 2).
They are not applicable for Commercial Paper (Section 3).
Where a further tranche of an existing ISIN is issued (fungible bond), either with
the same or a temporary ISIN, insert the ISIN of the existing stock, i.e. the ISIN to
which the tranche will funge. Please identify such issues as „fungible‟ in the
Feature(s) of security section (Item 14).
Where a bond is transferable between ISINs, please identify it as “Dual ISIN”
under Feature(s) of Security (Item 14).
If coupons are detached (stripped) and issued under separate ISINs, each
should be included separately. Please identify such issues as „detached coupon
(strip)‟ under Feature(s) of security (Item 14). Coupons detached after the initial
issue of the bond do not represent further capital raised, and should be excluded.
Item 2: Currency
Insert the relevant three-digit alphabetical ISO code to indicate the currency that
the security is denominated in. The list below includes examples of currencies
and their ISO codes. For other currencies see the listing at www.iso.ch, or
contact the Bank of England.
ISO code Currency
AUD Australian Dollar
CAD Canadian Dollar
CHF Swiss Franc
EUR Euro
GBP Pounds Sterling
HKD Hong Kong Dollar
JPY Japanese Yen
USD US Dollar
Report all transactions in the currency in which they are made. For repayments
this applies irrespective of the currency in which the bond was issued. Identify
bonds which are repaid in a different currency to their issue as „dual currency‟ in
the Feature(s) of security section (Item 14).
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Item 3 (a): Principal/nominal amount issued
Insert the principal/nominal amount issued, in millions (to one decimal place) of
the currency specified in Item 2. Do not convert into any other currency. This is
not applicable to bond repayments (Section 2).
Item 3 (b): Amount raised
Insert the total amount raised, in millions (to one decimal place) of the currency
specified in Item 2. Do not convert into any other currency. This is not
applicable to bond issues or repayments (Sections 1 or 2).
If the amount raised is not known in the currency of issue (eg if the proceeds
were immediately swapped into another currency at issue) include the nominal
amount issued, ie for these records the nominal amount issued will equal the
amount raised.
Item 3 (c): Principal/nominal amount repaid
Insert the principal/nominal amount repaid, in millions (to one decimal place) of
the currency specified in Item 2. Do not convert into any other currency. This is
not applicable to bond issues (Section 1).
Report all repayments of relevant instruments, irrespective of whether they
represent a complete or partial repayment. This includes amortisations of asset-
backed debt securities and capital distributions following a default on the
principal/nominal amount of a bond. Defaults which do not involve repayment of
capital should be excluded. For convertible bonds the amount of capital repaid
should be reported.
Item 4: End amount outstanding
Insert the amount of principal/nominal outstanding for the relevant bond (or
issuer for Commercial Paper) at the end of the reporting period. Report in
millions (to one decimal place) of the currency specified in Item 2.
For new ISINs the end amount outstanding will equal the amount issued, unless
a repayment had occurred within the same month. For further issues of existing
ISINs the end amount outstanding will equal the amount issued plus the amount
outstanding prior to the reporting month.
For Commercial Paper include the end amount outstanding at the end of the
reporting month for each issuer, by currency, even if no transactions occurred
during the reporting month. The end amount outstanding will be equal to the
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principal/nominal amount outstanding at the end of the previous month plus the
amount issued during the reporting month minus the amount repaid during the
reporting month.
Item 5 (a): Issue price
This is the percentage of principal (nominal) or par value at which the new issue
of securities is made. Figures should be expressed as a percentage of 100.00 (to
two decimal places). This price may be at par (equal to 100.00), at a discount
(e.g. 97.05), or at a premium over par (e.g. 106.09). This price should be gross
before any commissions or other fees involved in the issue are deducted.
If new bonds are issued at zero price, e.g. following a debt restructuring (see
notes to Item 1 above) or a transfer is made between ISINs, insert “0.00”.
Item 5 (b): Repayment price
This is the percentage of principal (nominal) or par value at which the repayment
of securities is made. Figures should be expressed as a percentage of 100.00 (to
two decimal places).
For a transfer between ISINs or where on redemption the bond converts to
equity, insert “0.00”.
Item 6: Issue date
Give the original day, month and year of issue of the security in DDMMYYYY
(e.g. 06022003) format. If it was issued over more than one day please give the
closing or payment date.
On the issues page all issue dates should be within the reporting period.
Item 7 (a): Repayment date
If the security has been repaid, either in part or in its entirety, give the day, month
and year of repayment in DDMMYYYY (e.g. 22112003) format. All repayment
dates should be within the reporting period.
Each transaction should be reported where there is more than one repayment of
the same ISIN during the reporting month.
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Item 7 (b): Final Maturity date
Give the final maturity date, sometimes referred to as the legal maturity date, of
the security in DDMMYYYY (e.g. 15082015) format. For perpetual bonds leave
blank and indicate as „perpetual‟ under Feature of security (Item 14).
Item 8: Issuer name
Insert the full name of the issuer (e.g. UK Company plc or Foreign Company NV),
including the class of note where applicable. This information is used to identify
the economic sector of the issuer. It is therefore vital that all details are given
accurately.
If there are subsidiaries it is important to distinguish between the subsidiaries and
the ultimate parent. To illustrate the importance of this, consider the following
example. Complete information is needed to accurately classify the institution.
Parent Corporate ABC Company SA
Subsidiaries ABC Company Holdings (UK) Plc
ABC Company Capital Corporation
ABC Company Finance France SA
ABC Company Capital Canada Ltd
ABC Company Holdings Inc
ABC Company Australia Ltd
Item 9: Issuer Residency
Say whether the issuer is resident in the UK or outside the UK. Note: this may
differ from nationality, it is the residency of the company itself with which we are
concerned, not the residency of the parent.
Code Residency
UK Resident in UK
OTH Resident outside UK
If you have any queries regarding the residency of an issuer, please contact the
Bank of England.
Item 10: Listing
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Insert a numerical code, from the list below, to indicate the exchange on which
the security is listed. If the security if listed on more than one exchange please
include each one, separated with a “~” (e.g. 2~4 for a security listed in both
London and Luxembourg).
Code Exchange
1 Unlisted
2 London
3 New York
4 Luxembourg
5 Dublin
6 Deutsche Börse
7 Swiss Exchange
8 Paris
9 Other EEA
10 Other
Item 11: Bond type
Insert a numerical code, from the list below, to indicate the type of security issued
(Section 1) or repaid (Section 2). This is not applicable in Section 3.
Code Type
1 Standalone Bond (a bond not issued from a debt security programme)
2 Programme Bond (a bond issued from a debt security programme)
Item 12: Coupon
Insert one numerical code, from the list below, to indicate the type of coupon
linked to each security. This is not applicable in Section 3.
Code Coupon
1 Fixed rate
2 Floating rate
3 Fixed-Floating rate
4 Floating-Fixed rate
5 Index-linked
6 Zero-coupon
7 Step-up
8 Step-down
9 Other
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Item 13: Rate (if fixed)
If the rate is fixed (i.e. coded as „fixed‟ under Item 12 above), give the coupon
rate of the security to two decimal places, e.g. 4.12. If the rate is not fixed, leave
blank. This is not applicable to Section 3.
Item 14: Feature(s) of security
Insert a numerical code, from the list below, to indicate any other feature(s) of the
security. If the security has more than one of these features please include each
one, separated with a “~” (e.g 4~6 for a perpetual bond placed privately). This is
not applicable in Section 3.
Code Feature
1 Dual currency
2 Fungible (further tranche of existing stock)
3 Convertible
4 Perpetual
5 Detached coupon (strip)
6 Private placement
7 Dual ISIN (including144a/Reg S)
8 None of above
Accurate and timely reporting
The Bank attaches great importance to timely and accurate reporting. All
institutions should ensure that they have adequate staffing, internal controls and
other arrangements in place so that they can provide accurate information in
accordance with these requirements and reporting timetables.
The Bank of England Act 1998 makes it an offence to fail without reasonable
excuse to comply with the information requirements imposed under the Act, or to
knowingly or recklessly provide information that is false or misleading in a
material way. It is therefore important that those involved in completing returns
should seek advice from the Bank if they have any difficulties and, if they are
unable to resolve those difficulties, add any necessary qualifications to the
returns. Where there are such problems, institutions should not delay submitting
the returns. It is also essential that institutions should not feel deterred from
correcting, qualifying or adding to information already provided.
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Information powers of the Bank; offences; restrictions on onwards
disclosure of information
The Bank of England Act 1998 gives the Bank powers to obtain information, in
Section 17 (for the Bank‟s monetary policy function) the Bank of England
(Information Powers) Order 1998, which came into force on 1 June 1998,
specifies the types of financial affairs about which the Bank may require
information under Section 17 of the Act1.
Sections 38 and 39 of the Act define the offences of failing to supply the
information “without reasonable excuse”, and of knowingly or recklessly
supplying information which is “false or misleading in a material particular”, and
the penalties. Given the good reporting record of most institutions, we do not
envisage that it will be necessary to invoke these sections of the Act; and we
would intend to issue written warnings to poor reporters, before taking any legal
action.
Schedule 7 of the Act1 restricts the onwards disclosure of information relating to
the business or affairs of any person obtained by the Bank under these powers,
unless (a) the information has been made available to the public from other
sources or (b) is summarised or collected in a form so that no information on a
particular person can be ascertained from it or (c) the Bank has gained the
consent of the supplier of the information and, if different, the person to whom the
information relates. The Bank may nonetheless disclose the restricted
information to enable or assist it to discharge its functions as a monetary
authority or as a supervisor of payment systems. The Bank may also disclose
the information for certain other purposes specified in Schedule 7; for example it
may disclose information to other authorities listed in paragraph 3 of Schedule 7
(e.g. the Financial Services Authority and the Office for National Statistics) to
enable or assist those authorities to discharge certain specified functions.
The Data Protection Act 1998
The personal details of the contact person(s) at your institution are held in
accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. We may share your information
with other parts of the Bank and the Financial Services Authority. Individuals are
entitled to see a copy of the information held about them in our records and to
request the Bank to correct any inaccuracies.
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Section 17 and Schedules 2 and 7 of the 1998 Act and the Information Powers Order were
subject to certain consequential amendments with effect from 1 December 2001 to reflect the
coming into force of the principal provisions of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 on
that date.
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