FISD Takes the Lead of Re-focused ISIN Working Group 1

WASHINGTON, DC - Bill Nichols, program director at industry association FISD, has been elected convenor of the recently reconvened Working Group 1 (WG1), covering international securities identification numbers (ISINs), officials tell Inside Reference Data.

Washington DC-based Nichols says it was not his idea to take the convenor role, but FISD represents members on both sides of the issue and can take a balanced approach. "Several members had suggested it last year after the group spent a lot of the past couple of years sidetracked on commercial issues," he says.

The group, which stopped its activities around a year ago when the last convenor Rudolf Siebel resigned, used to focus more on the commercial aspects of ISINs. Instead, Sub-committee 4 (SC4) of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recently asked the group to reconvene and focus on the technical elements of identification (Inside Reference Data, January 2008).