What is a Legal Entity Identifier (LEI)?

LEI (Legal Entity Identifier) is the most universal, global and trustworthy identification mechanism for companies from all countries of the world.

A new identification index for businesses A new identification index for businesses
A unique, global identifier for business entities engaging in financial transactions A unique, global identifier for business entities engaging in financial transactions
The de-facto standard for background validations and swift tracking of transactions The de-facto standard for background validations and swift tracking of transactions

THE LEI (LEGAL ENTITY IDENTIFIER) IS A 20-DIGIT, GLOBALLY UNIQUE IDENTIFIER FOR COMPANIES CREATED AS LEGAL ENTITIES

LEI is the de-facto standard for identifying banks and companies actively involved in the financial industry. Regulators across the globe increasingly require financial market participants to use LEI. Moreover, the recent European regulations (particularly MiFiDII/MiFiR) and the new Financial Transparency Act introduced by the US Congress in March, 2017 guarantees the continuing fundamental role of LEI’s in the financial industry.

Leaders such as the G20, FSB (Financial Stability Board) and many regulators require businesses to acquire LEI as soon as possible. As such, LEI adoption among firms continues to increase on a daily basis. The GLEIF (Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation) supports this increased adoption by continuing to focus on further optimising the quality, reliability and usability of LEI data.

lei in numbers
2 Mtotal number of lei records
4,2 Kweekly gain
227 countries
263,9 K'who owns whom' records