Reuters Instrument Code

A Reuters Instrument Code, or RIC, is a ticker-like code used by Thomson Reuters to identify financial instruments and indices. The codes are used for looking up information on various Thomson Reuters financial information networks (like Bridge and RMDS) and appear to have developed from the Quotron service they purchased in the 1980s.

Description

The Reuters Instrument Code (RIC) was originally defined by Herbie Skeete, the Reuters Executive who wrote the original product specifications for the first products on Reuters' Integrated Data Network (IDN). RICs as originally defined by Skeete were meant to be logical and intuitive.

For equities the codes were composed of a RIC Root (one to four characters – A through Z), followed by a period sign, then a one- or two-character (A through Z) code denoting the exchange on which the instrument is traded. Each company was meant to have a unique RIC root. Thus the RIC Root for International Business Machines would be IBM irrespective of the exchange on which International Business Machines was traded.

Glen Renfrew, the CEO at that time, was persuaded to veto the idea of unique RIC Roots. Also vetoed was Skeete’s intention of making RICs freely available and becoming an ISO standard. Much of Skeete’s original work is still contained within today’s RIC structure, but some key elements have changed over the years.

The RIC is made up primarily of the security's ticker symbol, optionally followed by a period and exchange code based...
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