The CFI (Classification of Financial Instruments) code has been developed to address a number of problems, which have concerned the financial community on the past years related to the growth of cross-border trading and the requirements to improve communication of information among market participants.

This code is not a replacement for the ISIN code but is used instead as a complement to identify the type and the form of the security facilitating the worldwide identification of securities.

The CFI code consists of 6 alphanumeric characters which identify the category and the group as well as several other attributes, as indicated in the table below:

PositionDescription
1Financial instrument category
2Group
31st attribute
42nd attribute
53rd attribute
64th attribute

Example of CFI Code

DYFUXR
  • The first character indicates the highest level of classification of the security / financial instrument and differentiates it from 14 (fourteen) generic categories.
  • The second character indicates specific groups within each category.
  • The four last characters indicate the attributes applicable to each group.