About ISIN
The International Securities Identification Number (ISO 6166) is the recognized global standard for the unique identification of financial instruments. ISINs are used to identify most types of financial instruments, including equity, debt, and derivatives.
The CW ISIN
The ISIN code consists of a total of 12 characters as follows:
The first two characters are taken up by the alpha-2 country code “CW” as issued in accordance with the international standard ISO 3166 of the country, Curaçao, where the issuer of securities, other than debt securities, is legally registered or in which it has legal domicile. This is the jurisdiction that DCSX as the assigned National Numbering Agency has the authority to issue ISINs.
Overall ISO rules govern the designation of the “CW” Country Code:
- For Equity Issuers: the country where the entity is incorporated must be in Curaçao. In the case of depository receipts, the country code is that of the organization that issued the receipt, rather than the one that issued the underlying security.
- For Domestic Debt Issuers: the country where the lead manager is located must be in Curaçao.
- For International Debt Issuers: the country where the Central Securities Depository is located must be in Curaçao.
The next nine characters are taken up by the local numbering code of the security concerned. Where the national number consists of fewer than nine characters, zeros are inserted in front of the number so that the full nine spaces are used.
The final character is a check digit computed according to the modulus 10 “Double-Add-Double” formula. See 2 examples of the CW ISIN Codes illustrated on the right.
The Dutch Caribbean Securities Exchange (“DCSX”) is the National Numbering Agency for the jurisdiction of Curaçao and Partner of the Association of National Numbering Agencies (“ANNA”) since June 17, 2021. The ISINs for Curaçao based entities have been issued by the national numbering agency CUSIP Global Services (“CGS”) prior to October 1, 2021. Since October 1, 2021, the DCSX is officially open to receive requests for ISIN applications for Curaçao based entities.
