Global Industry Classification Standard

The Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) is an industry taxonomy developed in 1999 by MSCI and Standard & Poor's (S&P) for use by the global financial community. The GICS structure consists of 11 sectors, 24 industry groups, 68 industries and 157 sub-industries into which S&P has categorized all major public companies.

GICS is used as a basis for TSX, S&P and MSCI financial market indexes in which each company is assigned to a sub-industry, and to a corresponding industry, industry group and sector, according to the definition of its principal business activity. For most retail investors, only the 11 sectors are important.

"GICS" is a registered trademark of McGraw Hill Financial and MSCI Inc.

Revisions
The classification is continuously updated by S&P Dow Jones Indices and MSCI. In November 2014 they proposed to introduce a new sector for real estate, as well as adding a new sub-industry for copper, both to be effective on August 31, 2016.