ICB

The Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB) is an internationally established system for classifying listed companies. It was developed by FTSE in the early 2000s and is now part of the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG). In Europe, ICB is the dominant standard on numerous trading venues and forms the basis for major index families such as the FTSE 100.
ICB serves to transfer the diversity of economic activities into a structured, easily navigable system. The classification is based on four levels - industries, supersectors, sectors and subsectors - and currently comprises 11 industries, which represent the top aggregation level. The central claim of the ICB logic is a market-oriented, operationally oriented view that is based more on functional activities than on purely economic profiles.
ICB follows a guiding principle: companies should be located in the sector in which they operate. While GICS is in part more investor-logical and balance sheet-oriented, ICB is based on the actual business purpose.
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The ICB system is not a pure categorization concept, but influences real economic and capital market-related decisions:

  • Index formation (e.g. FTSE All-Share, FTSE Global Equity Index Series)
  • Benchmarking & peer groups (specifically tailored to European market structures)
  • Market segment logics of the stock exchanges (e.g. growth segments, segmentation by industry)
  • Regulatory reporting standards (partial use of ICB logic in national statistics)

Research standards (partial use of ICB logic in national statistics)

  • Regulatory reporting standards (partial use of ICB logic for national statistics)

For research, media and institutional investors, ICB serves as a "map" to understand the structure of European markets and to capture regional characteristics.

Other Sector Classifications Cluster Mapping Visualized Insights GICS vs. ICB