ISO 23897:2020

Financial services - Unique transaction identifier (UTI)

This document specifies the elements of an unambiguous scheme to identify a financial transaction uniquely whenever useful and agreed by the parties or community involved in the transaction. It does not specify the timing of assignment of who should be responsible for its generation, so as not to limit its usage or relevance, nor does it consider a need to establish a data record for the unique transaction identifier (UTI) itself.

Services financiers — Identifiant unique de transaction

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 03-Aug-2020
• ICS: 03.060 - Finances. Banking. Monetary systems. Insurance
• Technical Committee: ISO/TC 68/SC 8 - Reference data for financial services
• Drafting Committee: ISO/TC 68/SC 8 - Reference data for financial services
• Current Stage: 9060 - Close of review
• Completion Date: 04-Mar-2031

Overview

ISO 23897:2020 specifies a standardized scheme for a Unique Transaction Identifier (UTI) to enable globally unambiguous identification of financial transactions. The standard defines the UTI’s format and composition so that a single transaction can be referenced consistently across systems, firms, and jurisdictions. It intentionally does not prescribe timing or assignment responsibilities, nor does it require creating a separate data record for the UTI.

Key topics and technical requirements

• UTI format: fixed pattern of up to 52 characters - 18!c2!n32c (total up to 52 alphanumeric characters).
• LEI integration: the first 18 upper‑case alphanumeric characters plus 2 digits represent the legal entity identifier (LEI) of the generating entity as defined in ISO 17442.
• Generating entity portion: identifies the legal entity that creates/assigns the UTI.
• Transaction portion: up to 32 upper‑case alphanumeric characters assigned by the generating entity to ensure uniqueness without separators.
• Character conventions:
  • a = A–Z (upper‑case letters)
  • n = 0–9 (digits)
  • c = A–Z and 0–9 (upper‑case alphanumeric)
• Uniqueness and persistence: UTIs are intended to be globally unique and persistent so they can act as primary or cross‑reference identifiers.
• Usage scope: designed to be free from redistribution limitations and applicable across a variety of use cases (including regulatory reporting), while remaining implementation‑agnostic about assignment timing and governance.

Applications and who uses it

• Regulatory reporting: standardized UTIs support trade reporting obligations (e.g., OTC derivatives reported to trade repositories) and regulatory reconciliation.
• Post‑trade processing: clearinghouses, central counterparties (CCPs), brokers, and custodians use UTIs for trade matching and lifecycle tracking.
• Risk, audit and compliance: risk managers, compliance officers, and auditors rely on persistent UTIs for event reconstruction and exception handling.
• Systems integration: banks, asset managers, fintech platforms and trade repositories use the UTI as a cross‑system reference to link workflows across disparate systems.
• Primary users: financial institutions, trade repositories, regulators, market infrastructures and technology providers.

Related standards

• ISO 17442 - Legal Entity Identifier (LEI): referenced for the LEI element used in the UTI.
• CPMI/IOSCO guidance on UTI harmonization is cited in the ISO 23897 bibliography for alignment with global reporting practices.

ISO 23897:2020 delivers a clear, interoperable UTI standard for financial services that simplifies transaction identification, enhances regulatory reporting consistency, and supports cross‑system transaction tracking.

Standards Content (Sample)

INTERNATIONAL ISO
STANDARD 23897
First edition
2020-08
Financial services — Unique
transaction identifier (UTI)
Services financiers — Identifiant unique de transaction
Reference number
©
ISO 2020
© ISO 2020
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication may
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ii © ISO 2020 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Structure of the UTI . 1
Bibliography . 3
Foreword
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This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 68, Financial services, Subcommittee SC 8,
Reference data for financial services.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
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iv © ISO 2020 – All rights reserved

Introduction
Identifying transactions uniquely is an important component of financial services and critical to many
aspects of global regulatory work.
Many transaction identi
...