Security identification number

This article describes the number used to identify securities. See Fundamental Analysis and Technical Analysis for information on securities ratios as a valuation of stocks .

The securities identification number ( WKN , occasionally also abbreviated WPKN or WPK ) is a six-digit combination of numbers and letters used in Germany to identify securities ( financial instruments ). If you write three zeros in front of the WKN, you get the nine-digit German National Securities Identifying Number (NSIN) of the respective security.

editor

The publishing group Wertpapier-Mitteilungen, Keppler, Lehmann GmbH & Co. KG ( WM Datenservice ) is the official numbering agency responsible for issuing the WKN / ISIN in Germany and a member of the Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA). Here, issuers of financial instruments or their agents can apply for a security identification number and / or ISIN . a. is also a prerequisite for the admission of their shares to stock exchange trading.

Every security traded on a German stock exchange has a WKN and an associated ISIN . In addition, there are a large number of unlisted securities and technical instruments (e.g. stock index, futures, interest rates, currencies, commodities, etc.) that also have a WKN and an associated ISIN. Examples of WKNs that do not belong to a security are 846900 ( DAX share index ), 965275 (EUR / USD currency), 965515 (gold price), 965264 (German Bund Future FGBL).

Numbering in other countries

Austria

Since April 22, 2003, no national security identification numbers have been issued in Austria . The Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG (OeKB) shares in its capacity as a national registry for Austria financial instruments as a primary identification feature an International Securities Identification Number (ISIN) to. This enables a financial instrument to be clearly identified worldwide. An ISIN consists of a prefix, the basic number and the check digit .

Switzerland

In Switzerland , a national numbering is also used for securities, the Valor number , or Valor for short . The Valor is currently a maximum eight-digit number that, unlike the WKN and the ISIN, only consists of digits and is consecutive. The ISIN then consists of the abbreviation "CH", followed by the security number (possibly filled with zeros from the left) and then the ISIN check digit .

The number is assigned in Switzerland by SIX Financial Information .

America

In the USA , Canada and other countries, the CUSIP number is the national securities identification number and is also included in the ISIN. For more information, see the article International Securities Identification Number (ISIN).

History and award rules

The securities identification number was introduced in 1955. Originally, the WKNs were divided into two so-called number ranges . You could see directly from the WKN whether it denotes a bond (WKNs 100000 to 499999) or stands for a share or a "share-like title" - for example an equity fund - (WKNs 500000 to 999999). This regulation was lifted from March 2000.

WKNs that begin with a zero are not officially assigned by WM-Datenservice . Banks use such WKN for internal accounting purposes. The associated ISIN then begins with XF. For example, Cortal Consors internally assigned WKN 0Z8638 for rights to rectify the squeeze-out at Brainpool; the associated ISIN is XF0000Z86389. The Targobank in turn assigned an internal WKN 0CA10J (ISIN corresponding to XF0000CA10J2) for peaks on General Motors. For Commerzbank and comdirect , the internal WKN currently start with 0E, for example 0E2682 for “Fiat Chrysler Automobiles claims to liquidation proceeds” (ISIN: XF0000E26823). This shows that banks assign their internal WKN according to different rules.

For similar reasons, there are no official WKNs that begin with "99". The highest official, purely numerical WKN is 989999 (ISIN: XC0009899995). The associated generic name is “Dummy-Satz f. WM-Informations technical WKN for baskets ”, so it is obviously a WKN that does not belong to a security.

On April 22, 2003, the WKN was officially replaced by the twelve-digit ISIN ( International Securities Identification Number ) in order to be able to clearly identify international securities. For practical and technical reasons, the WKN will continue to be used in parallel. When a security is newly admitted in Germany, both a WKN and an ISIN are issued today (2007). In general, there is at most one German WKN for each ISIN. However, in some cases there was an ISIN change with the WKN unchanged. For example, the Italian ENI share had ISIN IT0001009890 until June 17, 2001 and ISIN IT0003132476 since June 18, 2001. The WKN, however, remains unchanged at 897791. There were a few such cases up to around 2002/2003. However, if the ISIN of a security changes today, a new WKN is always assigned.

Alphanumeric WKN

On July 21, 2003, alphanumeric WKNs were permitted (only capital letters, without “O” and “I” to avoid confusion with the digits 0 and 1). Before, the WKN consisted only of digits.

Issuer WKN

Since January 19, 2004, the WKN can contain an abbreviation for the issuer of the securities . The issuer code is then the first 2-4 letters, followed by a number.

So far, around 230 different issuer codes have been used for the WKN, from AA0000 for products of ABN Amro Bank to ZDWT01 or ZDWT02 for (normal or blocked) shares in ZhongDe Waste Technology (as of March 2016). The latter is currently the last valid WKN in the alphabet.

WM-Datenservice has made the following regulation: If the first and second positions in the WKN contain letters, it is an issuer WKN (see examples in the table). Numbers or letters then follow from the third digit. Alphanumeric WKNs, on the other hand, which are not issuer WKNs, begin with a letter (either an A for normal securities or an F for futures ); in the second position there is a number. For example, A0A000 was the first ever alphanumeric WKN ( bond from Rhineland Funding Capital Corp , due 2004). Depending on the sorting , the A0AAAA can also be viewed as the first alphanumeric WKN; this is a Spanish bond repaid in 2005.

Development of the number sequence

Alphanumeric WKNs of the A0xxxx series were issued from July 2003 to around October 2009. Then the alphanumeric WKN began with A1xxxx. In November 2013, the A1Zxxx series was complete; Since then, alphanumeric WKNs with a third digit (A10xxx, A11xxx etc. up to A19xxx) have also been assigned (initially starting with A10600). The A2xxxx series has been awarded since November 2015, starting with the A2AA50 for Alpha Bank SA registered shares. The A3xxxx series has been issued since April 2020, starting with WKN A3AQ50 for a bond from Orbian Financial Service.

Such a series as e.g. B. A0xxxx can contain over 1.3 million WKN (24 letters plus 10 digits, high 4). From the specified period (approx. 2300 days) it can be estimated that an average of almost 600 WKNs are newly assigned per calendar day (plus issuer WKN). The same estimate for the A1xxxx series (from October 2009 to November 2015, that is again around 2200 days) also results in a little more than 600 WKN per calendar day (again plus issuer WKN). The frequency with which new WKNs are issued has not changed significantly since 2003. The second digit after the A changes every six years, and the third digit about every two months.

Not all available number ranges are assigned to the same extent. For example, there are only four active WKNs in the range from 490000 to 499999, while the 97xxxx area is filled with 7640 active entries (i.e. 76 percent). The situation is similar with the alphanumeric WKN: The area A0Y000 to A0YZZZ is almost 100 percent filled with 39214, while the area A0F000 to A0FZZZ is only about 40 percent occupied with active WKN. The series A00000 to A09ZZZ and from A20000 to A20ZZZ are completely empty, whereas WKN between A10000 and A19ZZZ and A21000 and A29ZZZ are definitely occupied.

Exceptions to the award rules

The WKN CBKTLR and CBKBZR ( partial rights / subscription rights / share fractions ) of the capital reduction with subsequent capital increase by Commerzbank in April / May 2013, associated ISIN DE000CBKTLR7 and DE000CBKBZR5, are the only WKN so far that consist exclusively of letters. All other WKNs (including issuer WKNs) contain at least one number.

The WKN H1111A (ISIN DE000H1111A6) and the WKN C1111A (ISIN DE000C1111A7) are the only issuer WKN issued so far where the abbreviation of the issuer has only one letter. There is a 2,007 overdue bond of HypoVereinsbank and a 2004 due Nikkei - Warrant Commerzbank.

Examples

Companies	WKN	ISIN	Valor
Bayer AG	BAY001	DE000BAY0017	10367293
IBM	851399	US4592001014	0941800
Nestlé	A0Q4DC	CH0038863350	3886335

Web links

• WM data service website
• Association Of National Numbering Agencies
• SIX Financial Information
• International Securities Identification Numbers Organization ISIN

Individual evidence

1. ↑ K.-P. Körbitzer: General customer information 2000/02: Reorganization of the German WKN system . WM-Datenservice, January 27, 2000 ( pruefzifferberechnung.de [PDF; 23 kB ; accessed on June 7, 2007]).
2. ↑ K.-P. Körbitzer: Alphanumeric WKN from July 21, 2003 . In: customer information . K21. WM Datenservice, July 9, 2003 ( wmdaten.de [PDF; 136 kB ; accessed on June 7, 2007]).
3. ↑ K.-P. Körbitzer: Alphanumeric WKN with issuer code . In: customer information . K04. WM Datenservice, January 16, 2004 ( wmdaten.de [PDF; 100 kB ; accessed on June 7, 2007]).