The Financial Instrument Global Identifier (FIGI) is an established global standard issued under the guidelines of the Object Management Group (OMG.org, an international, non-profit standards organization), founded in 1989.
It is a 12 character, alphanumeric, randomly generated ID covering hundreds of millions of active and inactive instruments. In total, there are over 300 trillion potential identifiers available. The identifier itself acts as a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) to link to a set of metadata that uniquely and clearly describes the instrument.
This method of constructing symbols was chosen to satisfy the majority of client feedback, which demonstrated the need for a random sequence that produces a unique, non-changing symbol.
FIGI closes the gap in existing symbology systems. Providing coverage across all global asset classes, real-time availability, and flexibility for use in multiple functions, firms are able to tie together disparate and fragmented symbologies, eliminate redundant mapping processes, streamline the trade workflow and reduce operational risk. FIGI also fills in the gap for asset classes that do not normally have a global identifier, including loans, futures and options.
FIGI Structure
| B | B | G | 0 | 0 | 0 | B | L | N | N | V | 0 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
Characters 1-2
Designates the Certified Provider that issued (minted) the corresponding FIGI
Character 3
Always 'G' to designate it as a Global Identifier
Characters 4-11
Randomly assigned values that complete the reference ID for the set of associated metadata. Alpha-numeric values allowed, excluding vowels.
Character 12
Check digit formula is based on the Modulus 10 Double Add Double technique and will be applied to every FIGI number.