Identifying the market of issue
(Extract from page 70 of BIS Quarterly Review, December 2012)
To identify the market of issue, the BIS considers three characteristics of each security: the registration domain (ISIN), listing place and governing law. The country information associated with each of these characteristics is compared with the country of residence of the issuer. If at least one characteristic is different from the residence, then the BIS classifies the issue as an international debt security. At end-September 2012, all available characteristics were different from the residence for 51% ($11.1 trillion) of debt securities classified by the BIS as international, although for some of these only one characteristic was available. For another 34% ($7.3 trillion), at least one characteristic identified the security as international (usually ISIN), while other available characteristics were the same as the residence.
Where available information is inconclusive, the BIS classifies the issue as international. This includes securities for which governing laws or listing places differ depending on the data source, as well as ones that the data provider has flagged as international. At end-September 2012, such issues accounted for 15% ($3.2 trillion) of debt securities classified by the BIS as international.