Note: This announcement originally published on 9 October 2017, updated 5 April 2018 and 10 April 2018, has been amended to clarify information on reporting of the Financial Instrument Short Name (FISN) identifiers to customers.
Clearstream Banking1 introduced FISN identifiers (following the new standard ISO 18774:2015) on 11 December 2017 in order to align with the recommendations of the Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA) that set a global start date for implementation of the FISN standards for all National Numbering Agencies. FISN identifiers will be visible via CreationOnline under “Reference Data/Financial Instruments/General Information” and via the Xact Web Portal under “Financial Instruments Query”
as of
12 May 2018
Clearstream Banking2, as National Numbering Agency (NNA) in Luxembourg, assigns the FISN identifiers to the ISINs with LU and XS prefixes created by Clearstream Banking.
As from 11 December 2017, FISN identifiers are assigned to all existing and newly issued securities following the new standard.
Availability of the FISN identifiers via the "Codelist - Securities database” will be announced in due course.
Background
Most financial institutions use an internal short name to describe or identify a financial instrument for reporting, trading, account statements, etc. The new standard for the Financial Instrument Short Name (ISO 18774) provides a consistent and uniform approach to standardise short names and descriptions for financial instruments. The FISN identifier is part of the reference data information of T2S and specified in various regulatory mandates such as the MiFID II and MiFIR regulations.
The assignment of the FISN identifiers together with the allocation of the ISIN and CFI codes lies with the National Numbering Agencies. The FISN standards are defined by ISO, while the allocation rules are defined by ANNA via guidelines.
The key securities information such as ISIN, CFI and FISN identifiers from various NNAs (including from Clearstream Banking) are available on the ANNA website via the new “free ISIN lookup service”. For further information please refer to http://www.anna-web.org
Main principles
The FISN identifier consists of maximum of 35 characters and is composed of:
- an issuer name with a maximum length of 15 alphanumeric characters3.
- a slash “/” as the delimiter between issuer name and instrument description
- an instrument description with a maximum length of 19 alphanumeric characters, assuming that the available length of the issuer name has been fully used.
Example of a FISN for a bond issued by AGROKOR D.D.:
AGROKOR/9.875 BD 20190501 144A
Whenever the information to derive one or several values of the instrument description of FISN identifier is unknown, not available or not applicable, the value will not be populated. If it becomes available it will be added at a later stage.
For the additional information about ANNA and FISN standards, please refer to the external links.
Further information
For further information, customers may contact Clearstream Banking Client Services or their Relationship Officer.
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1. Clearstream Banking refers collectively to Clearstream Banking S.A., registered office at 42, avenue John F. Kennedy, L-1855 Luxembourg, and registered with the Luxembourg Trade and Companies Register under number B-9248, and Clearstream Banking AG (for Clearstream Banking AG customers using Creation Accounts), registered office at 61, Mergenthalerallee, 65760 Eschborn, Germany and registered in Register B of the Amtsgericht Frankfurt am Main, Germany under number HRB 7500.
2. Clearstream Banking and Euroclear Bank are sharing the NNA role for the XS ISINs. The introduction of the FISN standards for the XS ISINs created by Euroclear Bank are subject to a schedule established by Euroclear Bank.
3. There is an exception for Collective Investment Vehicles (CIVs) and derivatives for which the issuer short name can be extended beyond 15 alphanumeric characters up to the maximum length of the FISN.
