Unique identifiers solve a lot of business problems. Take barcodes. Without them, organizing and monitoring the flow of stock would be immensely complicated.
But the implementation of unique identifiers has traditionally met with problems of its own, stemming from the homogeneous and networked nature of many domains. It's easy enough to impose a unique Social Security Number, because there's one body responsible for social security. It's been harder to launch unique identifiers in the financial world because only a relatively small number of transactional items (currency, treasury bills etc) are originated by monopoly organizations.
The internet is fixing this problem. Say a big welcome to UTIPrefix.org. This is a facility launched by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA). Users can go to the site and get themselves a unique trade identifier (UTI) for their derivatives trades. The service is free.
It's simple, secure, and in the interests of everyone involved – from clients to trading partners to regulators. No laws need to be passed, no one needs to be coerced. It must be the closest thing to a no-brainer I've seen in a long while. SFM
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