SRN: What Is It & How To Find It - SRN/HIN

There are many questions that come after buying or acquiring shares- Where are my shares held? How do I access my share account? These questions can often hinder easy and efficient management of your shares, and can lead to uninformed decision making for trades you make on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

Storage and management of your shares can be a complicated process, especially if you have reached the stage at which you wish to sell them for cash profit. Let's take a look at the two ways shares can be registered and accessed, and how Share Sell Direct can help you with these processes.

How can shares be acquired?

Of course, working out the different kinds of shares you have acquired will help determine how they are stored. The most common ways shares are acquired are as following:

• Inheritance- this can be from a deceased estate or given to you as a gift.
• As a result of the demutualisation of a member owned organisation (for example, NRMA to IAG in 2000)
• Employee share schemes (for example, Woolworths hands out a large number of shares to employees as a benefit or bonus)
• Through an initial public offer (IPO).

SRN vs HIN- What’s the difference? 

Regardless of how you came to own them, Australian shares will be held for one of two ways, as:

• Issuer Sponsored by the Company’s Share Registry: If you do not have a stockbroking account, then your shares held will be known as Issuer Sponsored by the company's share registry.
• CHESS Sponsored by a Stockbroker: If you have shares in a stockbroking account or an online share trading account, they will be CHESS sponsored and you will be known as a CHESS sponsored shareholder. CHESS stands for Clearing House Electronic Subregister System and is the system used by the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) to record share holdings.

These two share registry options are tracked with two different reference numbers- a SRN and a HIN.

What is an SRN? 

Issuer Sponsored shares are tracked with a SRN or Securityholder reference number. This number is a ten or eleven number sequence that always begins with an 'I'. Each company that you own shares in will have a unique SRN.

How to find SRN

Your SRN will be on your dividend or holding statement. If you cannot locate your SRN, you can get in touch with the company you have shares in and be referred to a share registry provider. This provider can supply you with a copy of your statement that shows your SRN.

How do you sell shares with an SRN? 

If you do not wish to open a share trading account for the sole purpose of selling your shares, you can invest in an online investor trade services like Share Sell Direct to complete one-off share sales. While opening a trading account can be time-consuming and often an arduous process, using Sell Shares Direct can get your shares sold quickly and efficiently.

Selling shares with a SRN using Share Sell Direct is very simple. You provide us with your SRN, proof of identity and your nominated bank account, and the sale can be made as soon as possible. For missing or incorrect personal details, as well as misplaced SRNs, we can help you out as well.

What is a HIN? 

If you are a CHESS sponsored shareholder, you will have a Holder Identification Number (HIN). A HIN is a unique identifier that is made up of a ten digit number sequence. This sequence will always begin with an 'X'. All of your shares held within this stockbroking account will be registered to your HIN. If you have several different stockbroking accounts with different brokers, you will have a unique number (HIN) for each account.

How to find your Holder Identification Number (HIN)? 

Finding your HIN is very simple - it should be listed on your CHESS statement that has been given to you by your stockbroker. If you cannot find your HIN, you can get in touch with your stockbroker who will have it on file or log in to your online trading account.