Investing glossary
ISIN
The ISIN (International Securities Identification Number) is the international 12-character code that uniquely identifies a specific financial instrument: a fund, ETF, bond or share.
It consists of 2 letters for the country of registration, 9 alphanumeric characters and a check digit. It is the financial-product equivalent of an ID number: it lets you buy it safely at any broker without confusing it with a similarly named product.
This matters especially because the same fund can have several share classes (accumulating/distributing, different currencies, retail/institutional) and each one has its own ISIN, even though they share an almost identical commercial name.