VALOR Validation in Node.js

1. What is a VALOR?

A VALOR (Valorennummer — also written Valoren number or simply Valor) is a numeric identifier assigned to securities traded in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is issued by SIX Financial Information (part of the SIX Group, Zurich), which acts as the National Numbering Agency (NNA) for Switzerland under ISO 6166.

VALORs appear in Swiss brokerage confirmations, bank statements, and financial data feeds from SIX. While ISINs have become the standard for cross-border and regulatory contexts, VALORs remain widely used in Swiss private banking, asset management, and fund administration. Many Swiss financial APIs expose VALORs as the primary identifier alongside ISINs.

Unlike WKN (Germany) or CUSIP (USA), the VALOR is purely numeric — it contains only digits, never letters. Like WKN and unlike ISIN or SEDOL, the VALOR has no check digit. There is no algorithm to verify whether a VALOR is valid — the only way to confirm it maps to a real security is to look it up in a reference database.

2. VALOR anatomy

A VALOR is between 5 and 9 digits long, containing only decimal digits:

Some well-known examples:

3. VALOR inside a Swiss ISIN

Swiss ISINs (country code CH) and Liechtenstein ISINs (country code LI) embed the VALOR in a predictable way. The NSIN (National Securities Identifying Number) portion is the VALOR zero-padded on the left to 9 characters:

For UBS Group AG (VALOR 1213853):

CH  +  001213853  +  0  =  CH0012138530
┌──┐   ┌──┐┌───────┐   ┌┐
│CH│   │00││1213853│   │0│   ← ISIN check digit (Luhn over expanded string)
└──┘   └──┘└───────┘   └┘
  ↑         ↑
country    VALOR zero-padded to 9 chars

To build the ISIN from a VALOR in Node.js:

function valorToNsin(valor) {
  return valor.padStart(9, '0');
}

// The ISIN check digit uses the standard Luhn algorithm on
// the alphanumeric expansion of "CH" + NSIN. Use /v0/isin
// to validate the full ISIN rather than computing it manually.

const valor = '1213853';
const nsin  = valorToNsin(valor); // → '001213853'
// ISIN = 'CH' + nsin + isinCheckDigit

You can extract a VALOR from a Swiss ISIN by taking characters 3–11 (1-indexed) and stripping the leading zeros. If you already have a CH or LI ISIN, pass it to /v0/isin instead of /v0/valor.

4. Why format checks aren't enough

5. The right solution: one API call

The IsValid VALOR API handles format validation and instrument lookup via OpenFIGI in a single GET /v0/valor request. Because there is no check digit to compute, the value is entirely in the enrichment: confirming the VALOR maps to a real security and surfacing its name, ISIN, exchange, and FIGI.

Get your free API key at isvalid.dev. The free tier includes 100 calls per day.

Full parameter reference and response schema: VALOR Validation API docs →

6. Node.js code example

Using the @isvalid-dev/sdk package or the native fetch API (Node 18+).

// valorValidator.js
import { createClient } from '@isvalid-dev/sdk';

const iv = createClient({ apiKey: process.env.ISVALID_API_KEY });

// ── Example usage ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

const result = await iv.valor('1213853');  // UBS Group AG

if (!result.valid) {
  console.log('Invalid VALOR: must be 5–9 digits (no letters)');
} else {
  console.log(`VALOR       : ${result.valor}`);
  if (result.found) {
    console.log(`Name        : ${result.name}`);
    console.log(`ISIN        : ${result.isin}`);
    console.log(`Ticker      : ${result.ticker}`);
    console.log(`Exchange    : ${result.exchCode}`);
    console.log(`FIGI        : ${result.figi}`);
    console.log(`Sector      : ${result.marketSector}`);
  }
}

Expected output for 1213853:

VALOR       : 1213853
Name        : UBS Group AG
ISIN        : CH0012138530
Ticker      : UBSG
Exchange    : SE
FIGI        : BBG000BVD464
Sector      : Equity

// routes/securities.js (Express)
app.get('/securities/validate-valor', async (req, res) => {
  const { valor } = req.query;

  if (!valor) {
    return res.status(400).json({ error: 'Missing valor parameter' });
  }

  let result;
  try {
    result = await validateValor(valor);
  } catch {
    return res.status(502).json({ error: 'VALOR validation service unavailable' });
  }

  if (!result.valid) {
    return res.status(400).json({ error: 'Invalid VALOR', valor });
  }

  res.json({
    valor: result.valor,
    found: result.found ?? null,
    isin: result.isin ?? null,
    name: result.name ?? null,
    ticker: result.ticker ?? null,
    exchCode: result.exchCode ?? null,
    figi: result.figi ?? null,
  });
});

7. cURL example

UBS Group AG:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.isvalid.dev/v0/valor?value=1213853"

Nestlé SA:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.isvalid.dev/v0/valor?value=3886335"

Invalid format — fewer than 5 digits:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.isvalid.dev/v0/valor?value=1234"

8. Understanding the response

Response for a valid VALOR found in OpenFIGI:

{
  "valid": true,
  "valor": "1213853",
  "found": true,
  "dataSource": "openfigi",
  "isin": "CH0012138530",
  "name": "UBS Group AG",
  "ticker": "UBSG",
  "exchCode": "SE",
  "securityType": "Common Stock",
  "marketSector": "Equity",
  "figi": "BBG000BVD464",
  "compositeFIGI": "BBG000BVD464"
}

Response for a valid VALOR not found in OpenFIGI:

{
  "valid": true,
  "valor": "1213853",
  "found": false
}

Response for an invalid VALOR:

{
  "valid": false
}

9. Edge cases to handle

10. Summary

For cross-referencing, see also:

• ISIN validation — ISINs embed VALORs for CH/LI-prefixed codes
• WKN validation — the German equivalent (alphanumeric)
• SEDOL validation — the UK equivalent
• CUSIP validation — the North American equivalent
• VALOR Validation in Python

Node.js integration notes

In a TypeScript codebase, define a branded type to prevent VALORs from being confused with other numeric strings at compile time: type Valor = string & { readonly __brand: 'Valor' }. Validate at the system boundary — when the VALOR enters your application from user input, an upstream API, or a file import — and carry the branded type through the rest of your pipeline.

VALOR validation is particularly relevant in Swiss private banking and asset management integrations: order entry systems, portfolio management dashboards, and fund administration tools. If your application accepts VALORs from users, the absence of a check digit means any plausible-looking numeric string passes format validation. Pair the API call with client-side pattern matching (/^\d{5,9}$/) for instant UI feedback, and confirm against OpenFIGI on submission.

• Assert process.env.ISVALID_API_KEY at server startup, not lazily at first request
• Use Promise.allSettled() for batch VALOR validation — it collects all results without aborting on the first failure
• Log the full parsed API response alongside the raw VALOR — the ISIN and FIGI returned are useful for downstream reconciliation
• If you need the full ISIN from a VALOR, use the isin field from the response rather than constructing it manually