THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is finalizing a national numbering system that will assign identifiers for corporate and government securities in time for a launch in the first quarter of 2023.
The move is a follow-through of the partnership between the securities regulator and the Association of National Numbering Agencies, an international association that seeks to standardize the financial industry.
In a previous statement, the SEC said the partnership would make the Philippine capital market more accessible and transparent.
Under the partnership, the commission would act as the national numbering agency and be responsible for allocating an entity’s International Securities Identification Number (ISIN), Classification of Financial Instruments (CFI), and Financial Instrument Short Name (FISN) codes to all instruments of the market, which includes non-listed companies.
“An ISIN is a 12-digit alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies a financial instrument,” the SEC said, while the FISN “is a human-readable identifier that provides essential descriptive information about an instrument.”
It described the CFI as a “6-letter code which provides information on the classification and structure of a financial instrument.”
Through the SEC’s Markets and Securities Regulation Department (MSRD), issuers of securities may be able to request their ISIN, FISN, and CFI codes.
“New securities with Registration Statements filed with the MSRD shall be allocated with securities identifiers once the Registrations Statement is declared effective by the Commission,” the SEC said.
The proposed application for ISIN, CFI, and FISN would cost P1,500. — Adrian H. Halili
