Recommendation 1 Recommendation 2 Recommendation 3 Recommendation 4

Recommendation 5 Recommendation 6 Recommendation 7 Recommendation 8

Market selection

Recommendation 3

The industry worldwide must satisfy the need for efficient, fast settlement by full adherence to the International Securities Numbering process (ISO 6166) and uniform usage of ISO 15022 based standards for all securities messages. The industry should seek to introduce a global client and counterpart identification methodology (BIC - ISO 9362) to further facilitate straight through processing. Applications and programmes should be structured in such a way as to facilitate open inter-action between all parties.

1.	Does the market use ISIN as the primary securities identification code?	Not yet, but ISIN codes are available for all securities and are generally used for international communication. It is planned for April 2003 that the German WKN ("Wertpapierkennnummer") will be replaced by ISIN-codes.
2.	Are the major participants in the market linked electronically?	Yes.
3.	Does the depository communicate using true (i.e. not bilaterally agreed on sub-standards) ISO standards for securities messaging?	For the German market a proprietary standard as well as SWIFT is used. ISO standard 15022 is in preparation in coordination with the members of the German SWIFT Securities Users Group (DESSUG).
4.	Does the market operate standard identification codes for counterparties or client accounts and, if so, how do (or could) these fit into a single global identification methodology?	No.