An International Securities Identifying Number (ISIN) uniquely identifies a security. Its structure is defined in ISO 6166. Securities for which ISINs are issued include bonds, commercial paper, equities and warrants. The ISIN code is a 12-character alpha-numerical code that does not contain information characterizing financial instruments but serves for uniform identification of a security at trading and settlement. For security (collateral), the legal right given to a creditor by a borrower, see security interest A security is a fungible, negotiable interest representing financial value. ... ISO 6166 defines the structure of an International Securities Identifying Number (ISIN). ... In finance, a bond is a debt security, in which the authorized issuer owes the holders a debt and is obliged to repay the principal and interest (the coupon) at a later date, termed maturity. ... Commercial paper is a money market security issued by large banks and corporations. ... Ownership equity, commonly known simply as equity, also risk or liable capital, is a financial term for the difference between a companys assets and liabilities -- that is, the value that accrues to the owners (sole proprieter, partners, or shareholders). ... For other uses of the term Warrant, see Warrant (disambiguation) A warrant is a security that entitles the holder to buy or sell a certain additional quantity of an underlying security. ... Settlement (of securities) is the process whereby securities or interests in securities are delivered, usually against payment, to fulfill contractual obligations, such as those arising under securities trades. ...

Securities with which ISINs can be used include debt securities, shares, options, derivatives and futures. The ISIN identifies the security, not the exchange (if any) on which it trades; it is not a ticker symbol. For instance, DaimlerChrysler stock trades on twenty-two different stock exchanges worldwide, and is priced in five different currencies; it has the same ISIN on each, though not the same ticker symbol. ISIN cannot specify a particular trade in this case, and another identifier, typically the three-letter exchange code, will have to be specified in addition to the ISIN. The SEDOL board of the London Stock Exchange is currently revising their own standards to address this issue. A stock exchange, share market or bourse is a corporation or mutual organization which provides facilities for stock brokers and traders, to trade company stocks and other securities. ... A stock symbol or ticker symbol is a mnemonic used to uniquely identify shares of a publicly-traded corporation on a particular stock market. ... DaimlerChrysler AG (ISIN: DE0007100000) is a German car corporation and the worlds fifth largest car manufacturer. ... SEDOL stands for Stock Exchange Daily Official List, a list of security identifiers used in England and Ireland for clearing purposes. ... The Source by Greyworld, in the new LSE building Paternoster Square. ...

[edit] Description

ISINs consist of three parts: a two letter country code, a nine character alpha-numeric national security identifier, and a single check digit. The country code is the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for the country of issue, which is not necessarily the country in which the issuing company is domiciled. International securities cleared through Clearstream or Euroclear, which are Europe-wide, use "XS" as the country code. A check digit is a form of redundancy check used for error detection, the decimal equivalent of a binary checksum. ... ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are two-letter country codes in the ISO 3166-1 standard to represent countries and dependent areas. ... Clearstream Banking S.A. (CB) is the clearing division of Deutsche Börse, based in Luxembourg. ... Euronext N.V. is a pan-European stock exchange with subsidiaries in Belgium, France, Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. ...

The nine-digit security identifier is the National Securities Identifying Number, or NSIN, assigned by governing bodies in each country, known as the national numbering agency (NNA). In North America the NNA is the CUSIP organization, meaning that CUSIPs can easily be converted into ISINs by adding the US or CA country code to the beginning of the existing CUSIP code and adding an additional check digit at the end. In the United Kingdom and Ireland the NNA is the London Stock Exchange and the NSIN is the SEDOL, converted in a similar fashion after padding the SEDOL number out with leading zeros. Most other countries use similar conversions, but if no country NNA exists then regional NNAs are used instead. A National Securities Identifying Number or NSIN is a generic nine digit number which identifies a fungible security. ... NNA is a three-letter abbreviation with several meanings: National Newspaper Association, an American organization for community newspapers National Notary Association, an American organization for notary publics NINETYNINEASTERISK, a Canadian league for competition in landscape, architecture and home runs Category: ... The acronym CUSIP typically refers to both the Committee on Uniform Security Identification Procedures and the 9-digit alphanumeric security identifiers that they distribute for all North American security issues for the purposes of facilitating clearing and settlement of trades. ... The Source by Greyworld, in the new LSE building Paternoster Square. ... SEDOL stands for Stock Exchange Daily Official List, a list of security identifiers used in England and Ireland for clearing purposes. ...

ISIN check digits are based on the same "Modulus 10 Double Add Double" technique used in CUSIPs. To calculate the check digit, first convert any letters to numbers by adding their ordinal position in the alphabet to 9, such that A = 10 and M = 22. Starting with the right most digit, every other digit is multiplied by two. The resulting string of digits (numbers greater than 9 becoming two separate digits) are added up. Subtract this sum from the smallest number ending with zero that is greater than or equal to it: this gives the check digit which is also known as the ten's complement of the sum modulo 10.

ISINs are slowly being introduced worldwide. At present, many countries have adopted ISINs as a secondary measure of identifying securities, but as of yet only some of those countries have moved to using ISINs as their primary means of identifying securities.

[edit] Examples

Apple Computer: ISIN US0378331005, expanded from CUSIP 037833100 The main body of the ISIN is the original CUSIP, assigned in the 1970s. The country code "US" has been added on the front, and an additional check digit at the end. The check digit is calculated in this way...

Convert any letters to numbers:

U = 30, S = 28. US037833100 -> 3028037833100.

Collect odd and even characters:

3028037833100 = (3, 2, 0, 7, 3, 1, 0), (0, 8, 3, 8, 3, 0)

Multiply the group containing the rightmost character (which is the FIRST group) by 2:

(6, 4, 0, 14, 6, 2, 0)

Add up the individual digits:

(6 + 4 + 0 + (1 + 4) + 6 + 2 + 0) + (0 + 8 + 3 + 8 + 3 + 0) = 45

Take the 10s modulus of the sum:

45 mod 10 = 5

Subtract from 10:

10 - 5 = 5

Take the 10s modulus of the result (this final step is important in the instance where the modulus of the sum is 0, as the resulting check digit would be 10).

5 mod 10 = 5

So the ISIN check digit is five.

TREASURY CORP VICTORIA 5 3/4% 2005-2016: ISIN AU0000XVGZA3

Convert any letters to numbers:

A = 10, G = 16, U = 30, V = 31, X = 33, Z = 35. AU0000XVGZA -> 103000003331163510.

Collect odd and even characters:

103000003331163510 = (1, 3, 0, 0, 3, 3, 1, 3, 1), (0, 0, 0, 0, 3, 1, 6, 5, 0)

Multiply the group containing the rightmost character (which is the SECOND group) by 2:

(0, 0, 0, 0, 6, 2, 12, 10, 0)

Add up the individual digits:

(1 + 3 + 0 + 0 + 3 + 3 + 1 + 3 + 1) + (0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 6 + 2 + (1 + 2) + (1 + 0) + 0) = 27

Take the 10s modulus of the sum:

27 mod 10 = 7

Subtract from 10:

10 - 7 = 3

Take the 10s modulus of the result (this final step is important in the instance where the modulus of the sum is 0, as the resulting check digit would be 10).

3 mod 10 = 3

So the ISIN check digit is three.

Conversion table for characters is :

BAE Systems: ISIN GB0002634946, expanded from SEDOL 0263494 BAE Systems plc is the worlds fourth largest defence contractor,[3] the largest in Europe and a commercial aerospace manufacturer. ...

The main body is the SEDOL, padded on the front with the addition of two zeros. The country code "GB" is then added on the front, and the check digit on the end as in the example above.

[edit] See also

• Central Index Key
• CUSIP
• ISO 10383
• ISO 10962
• NSIN

A Central Index Key or CIK number is a number given to a security by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. ... The acronym CUSIP typically refers to both the Committee on Uniform Security Identification Procedures and the 9-digit alphanumeric security identifiers that they distribute for all North American security issues for the purposes of facilitating clearing and settlement of trades. ... ISO 10383 is a standard from the International Organization for Standardization for Codes for exchanges and market identification (MIC), it defines codes for stock markets. ... ISO 10962 is the CFI (Classification of Financial Instruments) code maintained by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ... A National Securities Identifying Number or NSIN is a generic nine digit number which identifies a fungible security. ...

[edit] External Links

• ISIN validation code in C
• ISIN validation code in FORTRAN
• ISIN validation code in Java
• ISIN validation code in Python
• ISIN validation code in PHP
• Checksum calculation in Excel VBA