What is an LEI code

Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) is a unique code to identify any company worldwide participating in financial transactions. The process is done in accordance with the international standard ISO 17442. The goal is to help monitor and measure systemic risk and effectively and inexpensively support compliance with regulatory reporting requirements.

The Regulatory Oversight Committee (ROC) is the international oversight body regulating the assignment of codes to the Global LEI System. ROC, in turn, established the Global LEI Foundation (GLEIF), an organization entrusted with the maintenance and development of GLEIS, as well as the accreditation of companies claiming to perform the functions of the Local Operating Unit (LOU) for the assignment and maintenance of LEI codes.

Why was LEI needed?

All organizations working in international markets have long faced the problem of correct counterparty identification. With every country having its own company ID system time and resources were wasted in the verification and reconciliation of numerous company IDs. This issue came prominently to light after the financial crisis of 2008 when systemically important institutions and their subsidiaries (think Lehman Brothers for example) could not be consistently identified on global markets.

In the crisis aftermath G20 created and endorsed a global system of identification of legal entities. It should not only identify participants in financial transactions but also assess the financial risks of transactions using information about the company stored in the global GLEIS system and regularly updated by the company. The G20 instructed the Financial Stability Board to develop an international infrastructure that, under the control of the ROC, provided a solution to these problems.

It valued the need to unify the formats of financial transactions and the need to increase the transparency of companies involved in these operations. The codes increase the control and manageability of systemic risks in the financial market by regulators and supervisors.

The entity code allows you to uniquely identify a legal entity. It works for both the local market level and when performing transactions in other countries and internationally. Today no LEI means no trade.

How does GetLEI issue the LEIs?

The entity code allows you to uniquely identify a legal entity. It works for both the local market level and when performing transactions in other countries and internationally.

GetLEI is an official Registration Agent (RA) of Ubisecure RaplidLEI, and LEI Issuer accredited by Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) to assign LEI identification codes. The code is assigned to a legal entity only at its request or at the request of persons authorized by it. There is no need to get code to Private persons. The codes assigned by GetLEI are included in the international GLEIF database, where we transmit them in the format established by Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation via our strategic LOU partner.

Access and use Legal Entity Identifier numbers using our robust management platform called "envers". It provides client lifecycle management, LEI Transfer and renewals.

How do I know that my code is issued?

The data is publicly available and you can use our search/lookup tool to check issued codes and entities. It takes on average 5 minutes (check estimate for your region) to see your new code in the database . The LEI data shows basic information about the legal entity defined by the ISO 17442 standard, including the official name, registration address and other data. Level 2 information is also disclosed on the parent companies of code owners and their relationships with subsidiaries through their codes.

Why should I use an LEI?

Using the code allows you to:

• Minimize the likelihood of errors in transactions;
• Simplify reporting procedures to market regulators;
• Uniquely identify counterparties, issuers and other participants in financial markets;
• Know "who owns whom".

News & updates

Our company publishes regular notifications on technical updates, industry changes, and important financial market news. Monthly and quarterly global LEI reports available on our website, Twitter and Facebook.