Security Codes

SEDOL (Stock Exchange Daily Official List) codes

SEDOLs are issued by the London Stock Exchange (LSE) but cover many securities quoted overseas. True SEDOL codes are 7 characters (e.g. 0798059 for BP Ord 25p, or 2002305 for Abbott Labs Common No Par Value). The first digit used to indicate the country, 0 for the UK, 2 for the United States and so on. However in January 2004 the LSE started to issue alphanumeric codes (e.g. B019KW7 for Sainsbury J. Ord 28.57p). So the first character is no longer a reliable indicator of the country.

Although true SEDOL codes are 7 characters they are entered into Trust Accounts as an 8 character code by adding a leading zero. So the codes mentioned before would be 00798059, 02002305 and 0B019KW7 in Trust Accounts. The reason for this is to allow securities that have no SEDOL to be added. To ensure that these securities do not clash with a valid SEDOL the first digit should be set to something other than zero. This facility is useful for unlisted securities.

ISIN (International Security Identification Numbers) codes

These codes are issued by the Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA). This is an international body. Loosely speaking, a SEDOL is issued for every country in which a stock is traded whereas an ISIN should be unique. So HSBC ord USD0.50 which is traded in London, New York and Hong Kong could have 3 SEDOLs but only 1 ISIN.

• ISIN codes are 12 characters long. They are based on the codes issued by different national exchanges. They are structured as follows:
• First 2 characters. The country of the security’s main listing, e.g. UK securities begin “GB”, Australian ones begin “AU”. An exception is eurobonds which begin “XS”.
• Next 9 characters. The code issued by the exchange that has the main listing, e.g. the SEDOL code for UK securities, the CUSIP for US securities.
• Last character. A check digit.

Note that this means the SEDOL is contained inside UK ISIN codes but not foreign ones. For instance the SEDOL for BP ord 25p is 0798059 and its ISIN is GB0007980591. But the SEDOL for MYOB npv is 6242862, whereas its ISIN is AU000000MYO9, because MYOB is an Australian company and its Australian code is simply MYO.

User-Defined Codes

A user-defined code means any coding system other than SEDOLs or ISINs. This might be a user-defined system or some other system such as CUSIPs. If a user-defined code is in use then the user cannot accept a data feed and the system cannot show whether a security code is valid or not.

If a security is added manually and the security code is left blank then the system “makes up” a code. It is S: followed by an eight digit number. This number is guaranteed not to have been used already. Apart from that it is meaningless. But most users prefer to specify their own codes.

Check Digits

The last digit of both SEDOL and ISIN codes is a check digit. This enables Trust Accounts to ascertain whether security codes are valid. To see whether a security’s code is a valid SEDOL or ISIN go into Edit Security. If the user is using SEDOL codes, as shown in Database Parameters, then a message “(valid SEDOL)” or “(not a valid SEDOL)” is shown. Similar messages appear if ISINs are in use.

LSE Charges For SEDOL Codes

The LSE charges users who hold SEDOL codes on a database. Details of the charges can be found on the LSE's website at https://www.lseg.com/markets-products-and-services/data-analytics/data-solutions/sedol/documentation. These charges apply even if you do not purchase any service from the LSE, or even if you enter SEDOL codes manually into CCH Trust Accounts.

To help users find out how many SEDOLs they have that qualify for the LSE charge, CCH Trust Accounts has a Securities In Use Report which is found under Reports > Investment Ledgers > Securities Reports. The Help on this report explains the LSE charge in more detail.

No Support for US ISINs

ISIN codes as mentioned above contain the local security code in their middle digits. US ISIN codes contain a CUSIP code in their middle digits. "US ISIN codes" means here not just codes that start "US", but also codes from other countries that use a CUSIP code as their middle digits, e.g. those of Canada, the Philippines etc. An organisation called CUSIP Global Services charges for any ISIN that includes the CUSIP. See https://www.cusip.com/services/license-fees.html. These charges are so high that Trust Accounts does not allow these codes to be imported into the system. Instead Trust Accounts uses a substitute code. For users of the Telekurs feed from SIX Financial, the data feed uses Valoren codes which are a Swiss code. These codes are prefixed in Trust Accounts by "CH" and are 11 characters. For users of the Exshare feed from ICE, the data feed uses Common codes which are issued jointly by CEDEL and Euroclear in Luxembourg. These codes are prefixed in Trust Accounts by "C*" and are also 11 characters.

SEDOLs or ISINs?

Most Trust Accounts users now use ISIN codes rather than SEDOL codes. The pros and cons are as follows:

• The LSE charges are the main reason people use ISINs.
• But source documentation, such as contract notes, often only shows the SEDOL codes and it can be hard to find the ISIN code especially for unit trusts.
• The data feed is also a factor. With the Exshare data feed, users can use either SEDOL codes or ISIN codes. But with the Telekurs feed, only ISIN codes are supported.

If you use ISIN codes, you may be in the situation where you have the SEDOL code and need to find the ISIN. There are several methods.

• For a UK or Irish SEDOL you know the middle digits are in the ISIN codet. The system can use this to find the correct ISIN. So if an ISIN user clicks Find Security they see an option SEDOL (UK or IE) that lets you enter a UK or Irish SEDOL and finds the relevant ISIN by using the middle digits. 
• For SEDOLs that do not relate to the UK or Ireland you can ring the relevant broker and ask them. Or you could just Google the SEDOL code.
• Otherwise a few firms subscribe to an external source such as the Stock Exchange Daily Official List or the Telekurs Valor Data Browser. The Stock Exchange Daily Official List shows ISINs for listed securities but does not include unit trusts. The Telekurs Valor Data Browser includes unit trusts. But only the main SEDOL for each ISIN is available. Contact these suppliers for details.

Changing from SEDOL codes to ISIN codes

A utility is provided for users who wish to convert from SEDOL codes to ISINs. When the main code is the SEDOL code, the Exshare data feed also fills in the ISIN code on the Data Feed tab in Edit Security. The utility uses this field to convert from SEDOLs to ISINs automatically. If the ISIN code is missing on a security then the utility is unable to change its code. If two securities have the same ISIN code (which is quite normal) then the utility intelligently decides which SEDOL code to delete and which to recode. No client data is lost.

To use the utility, run QTRUMP32.EXE and select Security Parameters. Further details are available in Help for this topic.

Changing from ISIN codes to SEDOL codes

If the Exshare data feed is in use then the same utility can be used to change back from ISINs to SEDOLs. If ISIN codes are in use then the SEDOL code is not recorded anywhere in Trust Accounts to avoid users being liable to the LSE charge. So the mechanism is a little different from converting from SEDOLs to ISINs. However both the SEDOL and ISIN are present on the Exshare CD. So to change back automatically the utility requests that the Exshare data file is present so that it can perform the mapping.