ISO 10962:2019 Securities and related financial instruments – Classification of financial instruments (CFI) code.
This document defines and describes 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, but also covers the innovative financial products that have emerged in different markets (a trend that is expected to continue in the future).
This document is intended for use in any application in the trading and administration of securities in the international securities business. In so far as the trading and the administration of securities do not affect other countries, the application of this document 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.
In principle, the 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.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO 6166, Securities and related financial instruments — International securities identification numbering system (ISIN)
3 Terms and definitions
No terms and definitions are listed in this document.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
4 Conventions and principles
4.1 The CFI code provides the most comprehensive information possible, while maintaining the code manageability. One of the essential rules of this CFI concept is that the classification is determined by the intrinsic characteristics of the respective financial instruments and not by the instrument names and terms prevailing in a given country; these terms can possibly be used in a different sense in another country. This principle avoids confusion arising from different linguistic usage as well as redundancy, while allowing objective comparison of the instruments across all domestic markets.
Refer to the examples in Annex A.ISO 10962 pdf download.