Legal Entity Identifier

A Legal Entity Identifier (or LEI), is a unique 20-character code that identifies distinct legal entities that engage in financial transactions.^[1] The LEI is a global standard, designed to be non-proprietary data that is freely accessible to all.^[2] Over 435,000 legal entities from more than 195 countries have now been issued with LEIs.^[3]

Online LEI code validator: http://leicodevalidator.com

History

The LEI system was developed by the G20,^[4] in response to the inability of financial institutions to identify organisations uniquely, so that their financial transactions in different national jurisdictions can be fully tracked.^[5] The first LEIs were issued in December 2012.^[6]

Code Structure

The technical specification for LEI is ISO 17442.^[7] An LEI consists of a 20-character alphanumeric string, with the first 4 characters identifying the Local Operating Unit (LOU) that issued the LEI. Characters 5 & 6 are reserved as '00'. Characters 7-18 are the unique alphanumeric string assigned to the organisation by the LOU. The final 2 characters are checksum digits.^[8]

References