What is ISO 10962 about?
ISO 10962 is about securities and financial instruments. ISO 10962 defines and describes the structure for the codes for an internationally valid system to classify financial instruments. The classification system applies to financial instruments negotiated internationally as well as to domestic instruments. The term “financial instruments” refers not only to classical securities and derivatives but also covers the innovative financial products that have emerged in different markets.
The classification of financial instruments (CFI) code reflects characteristics that are defined when a financial instrument is issued and that remain unchanged during its entire lifetime. However, a few events that can lead to a new CFI code for the same instrument are anticipated, such as the changing of voting rights or ownership restrictions by a stockholders' meeting.
Note: Insofar as the trading and administration of securities do not affect other countries, the application of ISO 10962 remains at the discretion of the responsible national bodies, such as stock exchanges, banks, brokers, regulatory bodies and other institutions active in the securities field.
Who is ISO 10962 for?
ISO 10962 on securities and related financial instruments is useful for:
- Investment bankers
- Trading firms
- Stockbrokers
- Portfolio managers
- Asset management companies
- Stock exchanges
- ISIN allocating agencies (regulatory authorities)
- CFA executives
Why should you use ISO 10962?
The CFI code was developed to address several problems that concerned the financial community. With the growth of cross-border trading, the requirement to improve communication of information among market participants had become critical. A twofold solution was developed to address these problems. One was to establish a series of codes that classify financial instruments having similar features. The other was to develop a glossary of terms and provide common definitions that allow market participants to easily understand the terminology being used.
ISO 10962 is the second part of the solution. With the help of ISO 10962, you can now accurately identify a financial instrument. ISO 10962 helps your organization to provide a fund with a unique identification code. ISO 10962 also assists you in further classifying the fund by category, group, and four different attributes. These classifications act as a guide that provides all the necessary information about the fund.
What’s changed since the last update?
BS ISO 10962:2021 cancels and replaces the fourth edition (ISO 10962:2019), which has been technically revised. The six-character hierarchical structure remains unchanged from the previous version. The main changes to the previous edition are as follows:
- The classification of financial instruments code list has been removed from the specification and moved to an external code list
- The structure of the classification of financial instruments and content of the code list are captured in the form of a machine-readable semantical model of the code lists and their values. It is important to understand that this is a semantic representation of the classification of financial instruments hierarchical structure and not a canonical semantic classification of financial instruments, which is beyond the scope of ISO 10962
- The classification of financial instruments external code list is maintained and published by the ISO 10962 maintenance agency, which is responsible for managing the modification and enhancement of the code lists, their values and corresponding descriptions. The maintenance agency is responsible for publishing the CFI code list. The classification of financial instruments external code list is published in a selection of human-readable and machine-readable data formats [e.g. spreadsheet, PDF, comma-separated values (CSV), JSON-LD, TTL] at the discretion of the maintenance agency
