CUSIP vs SEDOL vs VALOR vs WKN: Regional Identifiers Compared
Last updated: July 2026 · 10 min read
Before the ISIN became the global standard, every major market built its own numbering system — and those systems never went away. The US and Canada still run on CUSIP, the UK and Ireland on SEDOL, Switzerland and Liechtenstein on VALOR, and Germany on WKN. All four are still issued today, and all four live on inside the ISIN of a security from their region.
🔍 Need to convert between any of these? Use our free Financial ID Translator — enter an ISIN, CUSIP, SEDOL, VALOR, WKN, ticker, or company name to get all associated identifiers instantly.
The Four Systems at a Glance
Each code was built to solve the same local problem — uniquely identifying a security within one market — decades before anyone needed a code that worked across borders. That's exactly what the ISIN adds on top.
| Identifier | Length | Charset | Issuer | Region | Check digit? | ISIN embedding |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CUSIP | 9 | Alphanumeric | CUSIP Global Services (S&P Global) | 🇺🇸🇨🇦 US / Canada | ✅ Yes (modulus 10) | Fills NSIN positions 3–11 of US/CA ISINs directly |
| SEDOL | 7 | Alphanumeric | London Stock Exchange | 🇬🇧🇮🇪 UK / Ireland | ✅ Yes (weighted sum) | Left-padded with two zeros to fill NSIN of GB/IE ISINs |
| VALOR | Numeric, up to 9 digits | Numeric only | SIX Financial Information | 🇨🇭🇱🇮 Switzerland / Liechtenstein | ❌ No | Zero-padded to 9 digits, dropped into NSIN of CH/LI ISINs |
| WKN | 6 | Alphanumeric | WM Datenservice | 🇩🇪 Germany | ❌ No | Padded and combined with a check character to fill NSIN of DE ISINs |
Common thread: the national code plus padding (and sometimes a generated filler) becomes the 9-character NSIN between the country prefix and the ISIN's own check digit. The ISIN doesn't replace these codes — it wraps them.
CUSIP: United States & Canada
The CUSIP (Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures) number is a 9-character alphanumeric code assigned by CUSIP Global Services, owned by S&P Global. It's the oldest of the four systems here, dating to 1964, and identifies virtually every US and Canadian security — stocks, bonds, municipal debt, and money market instruments.
A CUSIP is 6 characters for the issuer, 2 for the issue, and 1 check digit calculated with a modulus-10 (Luhn-style) formula. Because the US/CA ISIN NSIN is defined to be the CUSIP, converting is direct — no padding needed.
The 9-digit CUSIP drops straight into the NSIN field. Add the US prefix and Luhn check digit 5: US0378331005.
More detail on how CUSIPs are structured and licensed: our CUSIP Number Guide.
SEDOL: United Kingdom & Ireland
The SEDOL (Stock Exchange Daily Official List) code is a 7-character alphanumeric identifier issued by the London Stock Exchange, in use since the 1960s to cover UK and Irish listed securities. A SEDOL consists of 6 base characters plus 1 check digit, calculated from a weighted sum of the character values.
Because the ISIN NSIN needs 9 characters and a SEDOL has only 7, the conversion pads the SEDOL with two leading zeros before it's placed into the ISIN.
Padded with 00 to make 9 characters, giving NSIN 00BH4HKS3. With the GB prefix and check digit: GB00BH4HKS39.
For a deeper look, see our SEDOL Lookup Guide and the direct comparison in SEDOL vs ISIN.
VALOR: Switzerland & Liechtenstein
The Valor number (Valorennummer) is a purely numeric identifier — no letters — issued by SIX Financial Information, the numbering agency for Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It can run from a handful of digits up to 9, and unlike CUSIP or SEDOL it carries no built-in check digit, so it's zero-padded on the left to fill all 9 NSIN positions when embedded in a CH or LI ISIN.
Padded with two leading zeros to 003886335. With the CH prefix and check digit: CH0038863350.
Full walkthrough in our VALOR & Swiss Securities Guide.
WKN: Germany
The Wertpapierkennnummer (WKN) is a 6-character alphanumeric code assigned by WM Datenservice, Germany's national numbering agency. It predates the ISIN and remains widely displayed alongside it on German exchanges and broker platforms — many German retail investors still search by WKN out of habit.
The WKN carries no check digit and is shorter than the 9-character NSIN slot in a German ISIN, so WM Datenservice pads and combines it with generated fill characters when constructing the full DE ISIN — the WKN remains recoverable from the NSIN, but not by simple zero-padding the way a Valor number is.
The WKN appears as the trailing 6 digits of the NSIN, with leading zeros filling the rest. With the DE prefix and check digit: DE0007164600.
More on how WKN and ISIN relate in practice: our German Securities Identifiers Guide.
Cross-Region Lookup: Always Route Through the ISIN
If you work across markets — reconciling a US custody statement against a European fund holding the same stock, say — the workflow is always the same: treat the ISIN as the hub, not any one national code.
- Step 1 — Identify what you have. A CUSIP, SEDOL, VALOR, or WKN alone only tells you the security is from one specific region.
- Step 2 — Convert to ISIN. Every national code is embedded in its region's ISIN by a documented rule, so converting up to the ISIN is deterministic and lossless.
- Step 3 — Use the ISIN to cross-reference. It's globally unique and works with any counterparty, clearing house, or data vendor, regardless of which country issued the security.
- Step 4 — Convert back down if needed. If a downstream system only accepts a national code — say a US custodian wanting a CUSIP — the same embedding rule runs in reverse.
Doing this by hand means memorizing four padding and check-digit schemes. Our Financial ID Translator handles all four conversions automatically — paste in any identifier and get every equivalent back in one step.
Licensing Differences
Not all of these codes are equally free to use in bulk — a difference professionals run into fast.
| Identifier | Individual lookup | Bulk / commercial use |
|---|---|---|
| CUSIP | Generally accessible | Licensed via CUSIP Global Services — commercial database use requires a paid agreement |
| SEDOL | Generally accessible | Licensed via the London Stock Exchange — commercial redistribution requires a fee-based license |
| VALOR | Generally accessible | Licensed via SIX Financial Information for bulk/commercial data feeds |
| WKN | Freely accessible | WM Datenservice makes WKN data broadly available at no charge for standard use |
The ISIN follows the same pattern: individual lookups are typically free, but a commercial product built on bulk ISIN data needs licensing through the relevant national numbering agency or the ANNA Service Bureau. See our What Is an ISIN Number guide for the ISIN-level licensing comparison.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a single company have a CUSIP, SEDOL, VALOR, and WKN all at once?
Not for the same class of stock — each code applies to securities registered in its own region. A genuinely cross-listed company can have separate share classes or depositary receipts in multiple markets, each with its own regional identifier and ISIN. Apple's US common stock has a CUSIP; it has no German WKN, since it isn't German-registered.
Why does VALOR have no check digit while CUSIP and SEDOL do?
It comes down to design choices made by each numbering agency decades apart. CUSIP and SEDOL both bake in a verifiable check character so a mistyped digit can be caught automatically. VALOR relies on the numbering agency's own record-keeping rather than a self-validating check digit — one reason it's worth double-checking a Valor number against an authoritative source.
If I only have the ISIN, can I always recover the original national code?
Yes. For these four regions the embedding is a fixed, documented rule: strip the country prefix and check digit, then reverse the padding rule for that region — drop leading zeros for CUSIP, SEDOL, and VALOR, or apply WM Datenservice's WKN extraction for DE ISINs.
Which of these four is the oldest system?
CUSIP, introduced in 1964, is the oldest of the four. SEDOL followed not long after in the UK, and WKN and VALOR have also been in continuous use for decades in their home markets. All four predate the ISIN standard, published in 1981 specifically to unify systems like these.