The Code number ISIN (International Securities Identification Number) is a unique international recognition code for the transferable securities (shares, rights, bonds, derivative products, financing products, indices, etc.) and its structure is defined by ISO 6166.
An ISIN code consists of 12 digits divided in three parts: Generally, a two-letter country code, a nine alpha-numeric character national security identifier, and a single check digit.
The issuance of the ISIN code is performed by ATHEX GROUP, which constitutes the national organization for the coding of transferable securities (National Numbering Agency - NNA) and is also a member of the International Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA).
The ANNA association has adopted the ISIN code aiming at providing investors with a uniform identification system of the financial instruments, regarding trading and settlement, as well as, during the transmission of data among the market participants in the cash market. The identification of the international codes and the standardized description of the transferable securities can be used in all sectors of the capital market and is necessary for the trading and settlement of financial products.
Since 2003, along with the issuance of the ISIN code, a CFI (Classification of Financial Instruments) code is also attributed.
The CFI code is used as an international identification code of the particular characteristics of transferable securities.
The code consists of six alphabetical characters, of which the first one indicates the category of securities (e.g. Securities, Bonds, Rights, etc.), the second one indicates the particular group of security within the category (e.g. common shares, preferred shares, common bonds, convertible bonds, etc.), while the last four characters further indicate the characteristics of the group (e.g. registered or bearer shares with or without voting rights, existence of transfer restrictions etc., or e.g. bonds' interest rate type, bonds' payment mode, existence - if any - of state guarantee on bonds, etc.).
Issuance procedure of ISIN - CFI - FISN codes
- Completion of application for the issuance of the ISIN - CFI - FISN codes by the Issuer and submission of the application to ATHEX.
- Issuance of the aforementioned codes by ATHEX.
- Notification of the Issuer and of the ANNA association regarding the new codes.