a) The BSE is the recognised NNA for issuing instrument identifiers for Botswana, as authorized by the Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA), a global governing body that coordinates the work of NNAs. Currently, the BSE is a Partner affiliate of ANNA and will in due course become a full Member of ANNA.

b) As an ANNA Partner and the country’s NNA, the BSE has a crucial role in the financial markets of Botswana, as well as global markets, to accept the registration information directly from Issuers of new financial instruments such as Equity, Debt and Money Markets instruments and to issue identifiers that uniquely identify these instruments in accordance with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

c) Should you require further information on the ISIN and ANNA, please visit the ANNA website https://www.anna-web.org/ or email us at listings@bse.co.bw.

d) Applicants should also contact the Listings and Trading Department to apply for ISINs and other identifiers.

a) As an NNA, the BSE has been receiving full support from ANNA on all activities relating to the issuance of Instrument Identifiers. Currently the BSE assigns International Securities Identification Numbers (ISINs) only and uploads them to the ANNA Service Bureau database on a regular basis in accordance with ANNA Guidelines.

b) The BSE will generate an ISIN for Issuers of financial instruments, within a period of 24 hours or by the next business day, on condition that all the correct supporting documentation is provided at the same time as the request.

c) In future the BSE shall issue other instrument identifiers such as Classification of Financial Instruments (CFIs) and Financial Instrument Short Names (FISNs), Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs) and Market Identifier Codes (MICs) in order to meet the conditions for applying for ANNA full membership.

d) The Exchange allocates each instrument identifier based on a specific ISO Standard Identifier.

a) After each new financial instrument is registered with the BSE, and allocated an ISIN, the BSE is required to maintain the validity of the registration data in the ANNA database. ANNA maintains the consolidated global database of all ISINs worldwide. The BSE takes on this role for the benefit of Botswana capital markets and to support the free flow of financial information and capital throughout global markets.
b) The BSE collects registration data, including issuer information, type of instrument, its terms, and countries where it will be traded.
c) The BSE gathers additional financial identifiers from other sources to enrich the identification of the instrument and thus;

• Contributes data and updates to the global database maintained by the ANNA Service Bureau.
• Validates registration data and maintains its accuracy over time.
• Provides ISINs and CFIs to users on request.

a) In terms of the ANNA guidelines, the BSE has an obligation to pay the annual partnership fee of EUR4000 with effect from January 2020, following a resolution to extend ANNA Annual Fess to ANNA Partners, which was passed at ANNA Extra Ordinary Meeting held on Mumbai India in November 2018.
b) The consequences of non-payment of Partnership Fee can be detrimental to the BSE’s integrity, such that if there is no payment to ANNA, the BSE will be non-compliant with the ANNA guidelines which will result in the ANNA Partnership being suspended and subsequently terminated by the ANNA. Further, non-compliance with ANNA directives by the BSE will also be reported to the Regulator of the Exchange by ANNA for further action.
c) As a result, effective immediately, All Issuers will be required to pay an ANNA Annual Sustaining fee for the ISINs as a cost recovery measure.

a) In order to ensure full compliance, the BSE has adopted ANNA guidelines that allow NNAs to charge fees for the allocation of identifiers. Through the said provision, the BSE has now introduced an ANNA Annual Sustaining Fee of BWP650 to be levied on issuers per ISIN number issued. This fee shall be reviewable annually, based on the number of active and new ISINS issued under the review period.
b) The ANNA Annual Sustaining Fee charge is effective immediately. Any changes to the fee structure due to periodic reviews total number of active and new ISINs issued, shall be communicated accordingly to the market by the BSE.

a) International Securities Identification Number (ISIN) is a twelve (12) character alpha-numeric code that uniquely identifies a financial instrument, across the world. It has fast become the standard securities identification number code in the world.
b) ISIN constitutes of three parts. It starts with a two letter country code. In the case of Botswana, the country code is BW. The country code is according to the ‘ISO 3166-1 alpha-2’ standard. The country code is followed by a nine (9) character alpha-numeric national security identification code assigned to a financial instrument by the BSE. This is followed by a single character check digit, which will validate the ISIN code.
c) Let us take BW0000002527 divided into three parts BW-000000252-7 as a typical example of an ISIN code:

• First two letter (BW) of the ISIN code refers to the country code in which the Issuer of a new financial instrument is incorporated, and in this case in Botswana.
• The next nine digit (000000252) identify a specific financial instrument and act as a unique identifier.

• The final character (7) also referred to as the ‘check digit’. The check digit is used to help ensure the authenticity of the ISIN.

d) To obtain an ISIN from the BSE, an Issuer must have proper documentation and accurate information about the financial instrument. For instance, if a public company is seeking to raise capital from the BSE Market and needs ISIN code, a public prospectus document is needed. On the other hand, if the company is private and seeking capital, they will need to submit the offering documents in order to obtain the ISIN codes. In cases of Collective Investments Schemes, Fund Fact Sheets are required in order to obtain ISINs.