International Securities Identification Number - Issuance

Issuance

The ISIN is based on the National Securities Identifying Number, or NSIN, assigned by governing bodies in each country, known as the national numbering agency (NNA). The NNAs are co-ordinated through the Association of National Numbering Agences, ANNA. ISIN and CFI information can be accessed through the ANNA Service Bureau, run by Standard and Poor's and SIX Financial Information.

The NSIN element of the ISIN can be up to 9 digits long. Shorter numbers are padded with leading zeros before the addition of the country code and a check digit transform the NSIN to an ISIN.

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. Swiss ISINs are issued by SIX Financial Information and are based on the VALOR number. Most other countries use similar conversions, but if no country NNA exists then regional NNAs are used instead.