What is a Legal Entity Identifier (LEI)?
A Legal Entity Identifier is referred to as LEI, LEI Codes or LEI Numbers. An LEI is defined as a unique 20-character alphanumeric string (e.g. 529900T8BM49AURSDO55) and the code represents a Legal Entity such as a company, organization, firm, government body, trust, or fund.
  Each unique LEI Code is published in the Global LEI System (GLEIS) database – essentially a public global directory of millions of organizations. LEI Search services access the database to look up the LEI and link to identity reference data about the organization. An LEI record contains information such as the company name, address, incorporation status, and whether they are owned by or own, other organizations.  Legal Entity Identifier reference data can be used to provide identity assurance in financial transactions, KYC (Know Your Customer), client onboarding, and other organization identity use cases.  The LEI number is based on the ISO 17442 standard and each LEI is assigned only to a single Legal Entity, even across different geographical jurisdictions.
 

Who needs a Legal Entity Identifier?
2m+ million organizations, trusts and funds now have LEI codes (see the full LEI statistics for more detailed data). It is firmly established as the global code to identify ‘who is who’, and ‘who owns whom’.  LEIs are required for many financial regulations in financial markets such as MifID II, MiFIR, Dodd-Frank Act, EMIR, and more. Organizations attempting to trade under these regulations without an LEI Number will be unable to transact, or risk being fined. There are over 100 regulations requiring Legal Entity Identifiers, with additional regulations mandating inclusion going live every month.  Because they contain valuable, accurate, and transparent identity data attributes, the LEI enables high levels of trust in an organization’s legitimacy and identity. Increasing numbers of data providers and credit check organizations utilize Legal Entity Identifiers in Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and client onboarding processes.

What is the future for LEIs?
LEI usage is driven by various local and global regulations, as well as new payment standards like ISO 20022 in the Digital Certificate standard ISO 17422.  Being an accredited Legal Identity Identifier issuer is core to Ubisecure’s mission. We are focused on developing services to automate the interactions and assurances within the three identity domains: individuals, organizations, and things.  The Ubisecure Identity Platform is used in nationwide solutions to enable the use of strong identity, secure identity data and improve customer experience.  LEIs are the best solution to solving the issues associated with the less standardised, and less mature organizations domain to improve KYC, digital assurance, and more.  The Ubisecure Identity Platform and Identity APIs open many new use cases for LEIs as the central identifier to how organizations can interact and trust each other, assign rights to represent, and be trusted by their customers.  Innovations are detailed in the Marketplace, including the new ‘Sign in with RapidLEI‘s service that asserts organization identity, affiliation, and representation rights to counterparties.  In short, in the future if No LEI, No Trade!

Why Do You Need A Legal Entity Identifier?
A Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) is a 20-character globally recognized organization identifier. The LEI code is endorsed by the G20 as the most important global identifier. Organizations should have LEIs to be compliant with regulations, enable trust in their identity, and assert their legitimacy.

How to renew our LEI?
If you have acquired the LEI Code from us, be relaxed, as we shall be prompt to remind you by mail, call, and messages, and we shall renew on the same day upon your instructions.  However, if your Entity has a LEI Code acquired from another LOU and/or Registration Agent, and if you wish to transfer the same LEI under our management, we shall require a Letter of Authorisation and all the Evidences of the Entity. We shall make an application on your behalf to transfer the said LEI under our management to our LOU i.e. RapidLEI, Ubisecure, and RapidLEI, Ubisecure shall initiate the process with the consultation with your existing LOU and or RA. If there is no objection from your LOU / RA or you, the transfer process shall be completed in 3 to 4 days and the said LEI shall be under our management for subsequent renewals and management.

How can I transfer our LEI under your management?
If your Entity has a LEI Code acquired from another LOU and/or Registration Agent, and if you wish to transfer the same LEI under our management, we shall require a Letter of Authorisation and all the Evidences of the Entity. We shall make an application on your behalf to transfer the said LEI under our management to our LOU i.e. RapidLEI, Ubisecure, and RapidLEI, Ubisecure shall initiate the process with the consultation with your existing LOU and or RA. If there is no objection from your LOU / RA or you, the transfer process shall be completed in 3 to 4 days and the said LEI shall be under our management for subsequent renewals and management.

How do I know if an LEI code is lapsed or inactive?
You can use our free LEI Search application linked with the GLEIF 2.0 Search application to find out the current status. We connect to the GLEIS database to verify active status, and depending on status our system will then help you renew or apply for a new code.

Search LEI Numbers and find LEIs by Company Name
You can use our free LEI Search application linked with the GLEIF 2.0 Search application. You can use the application to find who owns an LEI, its status, and the LEI reference data associated with the LEI number holder. If you need to search for an LEI by company name or other attributes.

Level 1 and Level 2 Data
If a Legal Entity has any Parent Entity, then the Legal Entity must provide both Level 1 and Level 2 data. These are seen as fundamental and value-adding elements of the LEI, establishing the LEI as a high-quality entity identifier globally. In case parental (Level 2) data is not available, please deactivate this section and select a proper exception. There shall be extra payment/charges to be paid for Level 2 data updating and validating parental (Level 2) data costs per parent per year which takes up to 48 hours. The cost shall depend on the complexity of the hierarchy of the Legal Entity and Dreams Merchant Team shall inform you.