The first six digits, including the major industry identifier, compose the issuer identifier number (IIN) which identifies the issuing organization. The IINS was previously called the "bank identification number" (BIN) and some places still use that term.
Read more about this topic: ISO/IEC 7812
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“To finish the moment, to find the journey’s end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom. It is not the part of men, but of fanatics, or of mathematicians, if you will, to say, that, the shortness of life considered, it is not worth caring whether for so short a duration we were sprawling in want, or sitting high. Since our office is with moments, let us husband them.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)