Datasets / GLEIF — Legal Entity Identifiers

Background

What an LEI is and who issues it

The Legal Entity Identifier is a 20-character alphanumeric code based on ISO 17442, a standard developed by the International Organization for Standardization.^[2][3] The first four characters of an LEI identify the Local Operating Unit that issued it, characters 5 to 18 are assigned to the entity by that unit, and the final two are check digits calculated using MOD-97-10 as per ISO/IEC 7064.^[4] An LEI code by itself does not provide any valuable information and is only used to uniquely identify each legal entity.^[4] The LEI identifies a legal entity, not a financial instrument, so an entity uses the same LEI for any type of financial transaction regardless of asset class.^[3]

ISO 17442's definition of a legal entity covers parties whether incorporated or constituted in some other way, such as a trust or partnership, includes governmental organisations and supranationals, and excludes natural persons.^[3] Any legal entity that enters into a financial transaction is eligible for an LEI, and any legal requirement to have one comes from national financial regulators.^[3]

The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation does not issue LEIs directly but delegates that responsibility to Local Operating Units.^[4] LEI issuers, also referred to as Local Operating Units, supply registration, renewal and other services and act as the primary interface for legal entities wishing to obtain an LEI.^[3] GLEIF accredits LEI issuers, and candidates must meet the requirements of the Master Agreement that governs the relationship between GLEIF and the issuing organisations.^[3] A legal entity is not limited to an LEI issuer in its own country and can use any issuer accredited for its jurisdiction.^[5] LEIs are renewed annually, and the issuing organisations set the fees.^[3] An LEI remains unchanged when its registration is transferred between Local Operating Units.^[4]

Who uses it

In 2021 the Reserve Bank of India mandated the use of the LEI in cross-border transactions.^[2] In 2024 the Financial Services Agency of Japan mandated the LEI for participants in the OTC derivatives market.^[2] GLEIF publishes open-source relationship files that match other organisations' identifiers to the corresponding LEIs, for purposes including compliance, regulatory reporting and due diligence.^[6] In February 2018 GLEIF and SWIFT piloted the first monthly open-source file matching BICs to LEIs.^[6] In April 2019 GLEIF and the Association of National Numbering Agencies piloted the first daily open-source ISIN-to-LEI relationship files.^[6] To get from a security or a bank's BIC to the entity behind it, go through one of these relationship files rather than matching on names. (Meridian's view)

Registration status is the status of the LEI record's registration with the issuer that manages it.^[7] A LAPSED registration is one that has not been renewed by its next renewal date and is not known by public sources to have ceased operation.^[7] RETIRED marks a registration for an entity that ceased operation without merging into another, and ANNULLED marks one found erroneous or invalid after it was issued.^[7] DUPLICATE is assigned to the non-surviving registration when two LEIs have been issued to the same legal entity, and that LEI should no longer be used.^[7] GLEIF does not warrant that a given LEI is the only LEI issued for a legal entity.^[8]

GLEIF's golden copy files contain all LEIs ever published in a golden copy version, as well as all new LEIs published by the issuers since the previous release.^[1] When an LEI is transferred between issuers, the sending and receiving issuers both publish its record for a short period of a few business days.^[1] GLEIF decides which of the two records of a transferring LEI is published in the golden copy files.^[1]

What we found building it

Meridian reads GLEIF's golden copy, a file of around 200 columns, as text and keeps ten of its fields.^[9]

Single-character legal names are registered in several jurisdictions, and names past 200 characters are typically a registry's full form.^[10]

Where it comes from

In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, regulators worldwide acknowledged their inability to identify parties to transactions across markets, products and regions.^[11] At its November 2011 Cannes Summit, the G20 called upon the Financial Stability Board to take the lead in developing recommendations for a global LEI and supporting governance structure.^[11] The G20 endorsed the Financial Stability Board's recommendations at its 2012 Los Cabos summit.^[11] ISO 17442, Part 1, was published in 2012.^[2]

In November 2012 the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors, along with the Financial Stability Board, endorsed the Charter of the Regulatory Oversight Committee.^[11] The Regulatory Oversight Committee, a group of public authorities from around the globe, was established in January 2013 to coordinate and oversee the Global LEI System.^[3] The Financial Stability Board established GLEIF in June 2014 as a not-for-profit organisation to support the implementation and use of the LEI.^[3] GLEIF is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland.^[3] The GLEIF Board held its inaugural meeting in Zurich on 26 June 2014.^[11]

The first concatenated LEI data, Level 1 data answering the question of who is who, was published in 2015.^[2] On 10 March 2016 the Regulatory Oversight Committee published a policy design for collecting Level 2 data on direct and ultimate parents, to answer the question of who owns whom.^[3] GLEIF published the initial LEI-CDF format, version 1.0, in November 2016, and LEI-CDF format version 3.1 in May 2021.^[7]

Sources

1. [1]GLEIF Golden Copy and Delta Files - LEI Data – GLEIFdocumentation
2. [2]The Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) - LEI & vLEI - Organizational Identity – GLEIFdocumentation
3. [3]The Legal Entity Identifier (LEI): Questions and Answersdocumentation
4. [4]Legal Entity Identifier - Wikipediasecondary source
5. [5]Get an LEI - Get an LEI/vLEI - Organizational Identity – GLEIFdocumentation
6. [6]LEI Mapping - LEI Data – GLEIFdocumentation
7. [7]Level 1 Data: LEI-CDF Format 3.1 - LEI Data: Access & Use - LEI Data – GLEIFdocumentation
8. [8]LEI Data Terms of Use - Meta – GLEIFdocumentation
9. [9]README.mdMeridian's method docs
10. [10]datapackage.jsonMeridian's method docs
11. [11]History - GLEIF – GLEIFdocumentation