Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB) is a globally utilized standard for the categorization and comparison of companies by industry and sector. It is the official sector classification used across FTSE Russell indexes for analysis, attribution and performance measurement.
ICB is widely adopted by global institutional clients and has many application use cases:
Asset managers
Sector exposure analysis, strategy execution and attribution reporting.
Data providers
A reference data map allowing systems to categorize, manage and follow companies by industry.
Exchanges
Used by global exchanges to categorize listing companies. London Stock Exchange, NYSE Euronext, NASDAQ OMX, Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Borsa Italiana, Athens Exchange, Cyprus Stock Exchange, and Boursa Kuwait.
Clients chose ICB as their sector classification data provider for its:
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Inclusive structural development process |
ICB is supported by an independent external advisory committee that comprises of top industry sector market practitioners. It leverages the FTSE Russell Governance process, capturing collective perspectives and insights from industry experts around the world. |
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Comprehensive and relevant taxonomy |
Its four-tier structure offers a robust system for comparing and analyzing like-organizations.
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Unbiased approach to company research |
Companies are allocated to subsectors based on a transparent research process to determine the nature of its business, which includes assessment of revenue source data and other publicly available information.
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Methodology, policy and other documentation – New ICB structure
ICB policies, processes and structure have been enhanced as of July 1, 2019
- ICB Ground Rules as of July 1, 2019
- ICB Challenges and Appeals as of July 1, 2019
- ICB Classification Data Form as of July 1, 2019
- ICB Methodology Overview
- ICB Structural Enhancements - Research paper