Legal Entity Identifier Website Launches
The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) has launched its website, which it calls “an important milestone in the establishment of the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) as a key component for a global entity identification management.”
The LEI is a 20-digit, alpha-numeric code that connects to key reference information, enabling the unambiguous, unique identification of legal entities participating in financial transactions. The development of this identifier and its associated standards result from international collaboration between authorities and the private sector.
The GLEIF was set up by the Basel, Switzerland-based Financial Stability Board (FSB) and is overseen by the Regulatory Oversight Committee (ROC). The GLEIF was created to act in the public and private interest by establishing the LEI as a unique key for the unambiguous identification of legal entities for multiple purposes.
They include improved risk management; better assessment of micro and macro prudential risk; facilitation of orderly resolution; transparency into market abuse; curbing financial fraud; increased operational efficiency; and higher overall quality and accuracy of legal entity data.
Since its founding in June 2014, GLEIF management and its board of directors have worked to set up the GLEIF operations. The website is “an important first step in this process and a very visible sign of the progress being made to date.”
“We are very excited to release the GLEIF website as the primary means for stakeholders and the public in general to communicate with the GLEIF and follow its activities”, said GLEIF’s chief executive (CEO) Stephan Wolf.
The website includes:
Later this year, the website will provide market participants with access in the languages of the G20 countries to the authoritative database of all LEIs issued globally and the associated reference data.
The website may be found at www.gleif.org.