ISO 4217 is an international standard describing three letter codes to define the names of currencies established by the International Organization for Standardization, ISO. This eliminates the problem caused by the names Dollar, Franc and Pound being used in dozens of different countries, all with wildly differing values. 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. However, there are some countries that have a Minor currency unit that is 1/10, 1/20 or even 1/5 of the Major currency unit. A few countries do not have a Minor currency unit at all. The first two letters of the code are the 2 letters of ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes.
ISO 4217 includes codes for not only currencies, but also codes for precious metals (gold, silver, palladium and platinum; normally measured in troy ounces) and certain other entities used in international finance, e.g. Special Drawing Rights. There are also special codes allocated for testing purposes (XTS), and to indicate no currency transactions (XXX). These codes all begin with the letter "X".
Supranational currencies, such as the East Caribbean dollar, the CFP franc, the CFA franc BEAC and the CFA franc BCEAO are normally also represented by codes beginning with an "X". However, the Euro is represented by the code EUR; although EU is not an ISO 3166-1 country code, it was used anyway, and in order to do so EU was added to the ISO 3166-1 reserved codes list to represent the European Union. The predecessor to the Euro, the European Currency Unit, had the code XEU.
Over time, new currencies are created and old currencies are discontinued. As a result, the list of codes must be updated from time to time. The ISO 4217 maintenance agency (MA), the British Standards Institution, is responsible for maintaining the list of codes.
- BAM Bosnia-Herzegovina Convertible Marks
- BBD Barbados Dollar
- BDT Bangladesh Taka
- BGL Bulgarian Lev
- BGN Bulgarian Lev
- BHD Bahraini Dinar
- BIF Burundi Franc
- BMD Bermuda Dollar
- BND Brunei Dollar
- BOB Bolivian Boliviano
- BOV Bolivian Mvdol (Funds code)
- BRL Brazilian Real
- BSD Bahamian Dollar
- BTN Bhutan Ngultrum
- BWP Botswana Pula
- BYR Belarussian Ruble
- BZD Belize Dollar
- EEK Estonian Kroon
- EGP Egyptian Pound
- FJD Fiji Dollar
- FKP Falkland Islands Pound
- IDR Indonesian Rupiah
- ILS New Israeli Shekel
- INR Indian Rupee
- IQD Iraqi Dinar
- IRR Iranian Rial
- ISK Iceland Krona
- JMD Jamaican Dollar
- JOD Jordanian Dinar
- JPY Japanese Yen
- LAK Lao Kip
- LBP Lebanese Pound
- LKR Sri Lanka Rupee
- LRD Liberian Dollar
- LSL Lesotho Loti
- LTL Lithuanian Litus
- LVL Latvian Lats
- LYD Libyan Dinar
- MAD Moroccan Dirham
- MDL Moldovan Leu
- MGF Malagasy Franc
- MKD Macedonia(Former Yug. Rep.) Denar
- MMK Myanmar Kyat
- MNT Mongolian Tugrik
- MOP Macau Pataca
- MRO Mauritania Ouguiya
- MTL Maltese Lira
- MUR Mauritius Rupee
- MVR Maldives Rufiyaa
- MWK Malawi Kwacha
- MXN Mexican Peso
- MXV Mexican Unidad de Inversion (UDI) (Funds code)
- MYR Malaysian Ringgit
- MZM Moazambique Metical
- PAB Panama Balboa
- PEN Peruvian Nuevo Sol
- PGK Papua New Guinea Kina
- PHP Philippine Peso
- PKR Pakistan Rupee
- PLN Polish Zloty
- PYG Paraguay Guarani
- UAH Ukrainian Hryvnia
- UGX Uganda Shilling
- USD United States Dollar
- USN United States Dollar (Next day) (Funds code)
- USS United States Dollar (Same day) (Funds code) (one source claims it is no longer used, but it is still on the ISO 4217-MA list)
- UYU Peso Uruguayo
- UZS Uzbekistan Sum
- VEB Venezuelan Bolivar
- VND Viet Nam Dong
- VUV Vanuatu Vatu
- YER Yemeni Rial
- YUM Yugoslavian Dinar
- ZAR South African Rand
- ZMK Zambian Kwacha
- ZWD Zimbabwe Dollar
- ADP Andorran Peseta (Euro)
- AON Angolan New Kwanza (replaced by AOA)
- AOR Angolan Kwanza Readjustado (replaced by AOA)
- ATS Austrian Schilling (Euro)
- BEC Belgian Franc (convertible)
- BEF Belgian Franc (Euro)
- BEL Belgian Franc (financial)
- CSK Czechoslovakia Koruna
- DDM Mark der DDR (East Germany)
- DEM Deutsche Mark (Euro)
- ECS Ecuador Sucre (replaced by USD)
- ECV Ecuador Unidad de Valor Constante (Funds code) (discontinued)
- ESA Spanish Peseta (account A)
- ESB Spanish Peseta (account B)
- ESP Spanish Peseta (Euro)
- FIM Finnish Markka (Euro)
- FRF French Franc (Euro)
- GRD Greek Drachma (Euro)
- IEP Irish Pound (Euro)
- ITL Italian Lira (Euro)
- LUF Luxembourg Franc (Euro)
- MXP Mexican Peso (replaced by MXN)
- NLG Netherlands Guilder (Euro)
- PLZ Polish Zloty (replaced by PLN)
- PTE Portuguese Escudo (Euro)
- SUR Soviet Union Rouble
- XEU European Currency Unit (replaced by EUR)
- YUD New Yugoslavian Dinar (replaced by YUM)
- ZAL South African financial rand (Funds code) (discontinued)
- ZRN New Zaire (replaced by CDF)
- ZRZ Zaire (replaced by ZRN, then by CDF)
- To look up both numeric and alphabetic ISO 4217 currency codes, see http://www.hbssby.com/xr/currency_table.html.
- ISO 4217/MA (http://www.hbssby.com/Technical+Information/Publications/_Publications/tig90.xalter) – ISO 4217 Maintenance Authority at the British Standards Institute – includes list of currency codes (not up-to-date).
