Does your company need an LEI number?

The Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) provides a single, unique identifier to identify parties involved in financial transactions. This international, alphanumeric code helps to standardize and structure data about legal entities participating in financial transactions across all markets and asset classes. With over 200 million registrations, Many identity-providing companies like LEIZONE are consistent in providing LEI Code in hours not days depending upon the authenticity and accuracy of information provided to them related to your entity. The LEI is becoming an essential tool to support global financial transparency and combat fraud and financial crime.

The LEI is managed by the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF), a not-for-profit organization founded in 2014. GLEIF operates globally with the support of more than 100 member organizations representing the major global financial centers. GLEIF is dedicated to promoting transparency in the financial markets, mitigating risk, and protecting the integrity of financial transactions.

There are many benefits of having an LEI number for your company. Here are seven reasons why you should consider getting one:

Increased transparency and trust. An LEI number increases transparency and trust between companies because it assigns a unique identifier to each company. This allows companies to more easily identify each other and establishes a global standard for corporate identification.
Improved risk management. An LEI number can help improve your company’s risk management by providing detailed information about each company’s legal structure, parent companies, subsidiaries, and affiliates. This helps you better understand your business partners and their affiliations, which can help reduce the risk of fraud or money laundering.
Easier compliance with regulations. Having an LEI number allows your company to more easily comply with local, state, federal, and international regulations. This includes global data privacy standards like GDPR when it takes effect in 2018.
Reduced compliance costs. An LEI can help make your compliance requirements much easier to manage by using a standard identifier for each company that’s recognized locally and globally. If you’re required to report information about another party in one country or region, you can use the same identifier that you’ve already used elsewhere in the world.
Global access to corporate information databases through unique identifiers. Having an LEI means that companies around the world can reference your information in their databases because they have a common identifier for your company. Without one, they have to use different identifiers that don’t match the records in your company’s database. This increases the risk of incorrect information being stored and shared due to errors made during data entry.
Reduced corporate overhead costs. An LEI number can reduce your company’s administrative overhead by standardizing local or global reporting requirements with a single identifier used for all different countries and regions where you operate. If you need to report compliance information about another party, you can do so with a single identifier rather than several separate identifiers specific to each jurisdiction. This will make compliance easier and more efficient for your business.
Transparency into your business structure and activities helps prevent fraud and money laundering. Having an LEI number allows companies who are part of your supply chain, customers, and other interested parties to more easily identify your company and its affiliations. This helps reduce the risk of fraud or money laundering by understanding who your business partners are and what their activities are.

LEI applications are used by companies worldwide to support essential banking functions including international payments, trading, asset servicing, lending activity, and compliance with local regulation. An LEI uniquely identifies a legal entity.

The process of getting LEI for your company is straightforward – you can either apply directly through the GLEIF website or ask your financial services provider to help with the process. The cost varies depending on how quickly you would like to obtain an LEI number, but it typically takes 5-10 working days.