26

ISO 4217 defines 3-letter currency symbols:

  • EUR
  • USD
  • LKR
  • GBP

Do currencies' minor units (cent, pence) have a ISO or similar standard, too, that defines codes for those sub-units like

  • ct
  • p

?

Pekka
  • 442,112
  • 142
  • 972
  • 1,088

3 Answers3

23

The standard also defines the relationship between the major currency unit and any minor currency unit. Often, the minor currency unit has a value that is 1/100 of the major unit, but 1/1000 is also common. Some currencies do not have any minor currency unit at all. In others, the major currency unit has so little value that the minor unit is no longer generally used (e.g. the Japanese sen, 1/100th of a yen). This is indicated in the standard by the currency exponent. For example, USD has exponent 2, while JPY has exponent 0. Mauritania does not use a decimal division of units, setting 1 ouguiya (UM) = 5 khoums, and Madagascar has 1 ariary = 5 iraimbilanja.

Wikipedia.

As for a better word, how does minor currency unit suit? Although, Wikipedia also refers to it as sub unit. Take your pick.

There is a table on that Wikipedia article listing the standard precision for the minor currency unit.

As a sidenote, Wikipedia provides the fractional unit name for all circulating currencies.

alex
  • 479,566
  • 201
  • 878
  • 984
  • 1
    Very nice, this is already useful to know! It doesn't define codes for those sub-units, though (like `ct` or `p`). "Minor currency unit" is perfect. – Pekka Feb 17 '11 at 00:21
  • @Pekka It looks like they would just prefer you to display the currency as a float (i.e. never explicitly refer to cents/pence/etc). But that is just my take on it. – alex Feb 17 '11 at 00:26
  • 1
    @alex yeah, ISO 4217 seems built that way. I need this for a configuration setting in an end-user interface where I need to show the name of the minor unit, so I thought I'd use a standard to define which unit names are okay - but it may well be that there is no international standard for those – Pekka Feb 17 '11 at 00:28
  • 1
    @Pekka See update too. It seems *sub unit* is a perfectly valid name too, if it is good enough for Wikipedia. :) – alex Feb 17 '11 at 00:31
  • @alex sweet! I think I will go with the list or "fractional units" you link to, that'll work for me. Cheers! – Pekka Feb 17 '11 at 00:33
  • @Pekka No worries, glad I could pay back some of the Pekka help I've received in the past. – alex Feb 17 '11 at 00:35
6

In the financial markets there's roughly two established industry standards.

The first one is really a case-by-case agreement, mostly enforced by exchanges that have their securities quote in the minor currency unit. This lead to:

  • GBX for British pence
  • ZAC for South-African cents
  • ILA for Israeli agorot

Probably pioneered by Reuters and Bloomberg, the second standard is far more wide-spread and consistent. The agreement is to lowercase the third letter to denote the minor units.

  • GBp, ZAr, ILs, USd, EUr, etc.

Related discussions:

hroptatyr
  • 4,702
  • 1
  • 35
  • 38
  • 3
    Link is broken! – Dolan Oct 16 '18 at 12:47
  • 2
    Lowercasing the third letter is simple, appealing and wrong. GBp is OK, but Reuters uses USc (from 'US cents') and not USd. Also the convention doesn't cover all currencies with minor units. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_4217#Unofficial_codes_for_minor_units_of_currency – jedwidz Feb 24 '21 at 11:00
6

You need to look at the standard itself.

From the ISO website:

ISO 4217:2008 specifies the structure for a three-letter alphabetic code and an equivalent three-digit numeric code for the representation of currencies and funds. For those currencies having minor units, it also shows the decimal relationship between such units and the currency itself.

ISO 4217:2008 also establishes procedures for a Maintenance Agency, and specifies the method of application for codes.

The key bit is:

it also shows the decimal relationship between such units and the currency itself.

So to answer your question, I couldn't find an ISO Standard that discusses minor units. Similar standards discuss Commercial Administration and Finance.

Christian Payne
  • 7,081
  • 5
  • 38
  • 59
  • So it looks like there is no international standard for sub-units. Which makes kind of sense in international commerce... Cheers! – Pekka Feb 17 '11 at 00:44