The Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) is a globally unique identifier for participants in the financial market such as companies, banks, brokers, funds, securities and commodities traders. LEIs make it possible to reliably identify each contracting party and each party involved in a financial transaction and thus fulfill certain reporting obligations to supervisory authorities. The LEI was introduced by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) in 2012 and is implemented worldwide by the Global LEI Foundation(GLEIF). Local Operating Units (LOU) serve as the awarding bodies.
The LEI and the corresponding information on the legal entity can be found in the properties of securities on the "LEI" tab.
The details in detail:
Element
Description
Legal Entity Identifier
The 20-digit code consists of letters and numbers to uniquely identify the legal entity in accordance with ISO standard 17442.
The structure of the LEI in detail:
The first 4 digits identify the LOU.
The next 2 digits ("00") serve as a separator.
The next 12 digits identify the actual legal entity.
The last 2 digits serve as a checksum.
Name
Legal name of the legal entity according to the founding documents.
Addresses
The address of the legal entity according to the founding documents. A distinction is made between:
Legal domicile
Administrative headquarters (head office)
Legal entity status
The status of the legal entity with regard to business operations.
ACTIVE Refers to solvent legal entities in normal business operations and legal entities in insolvency proceedings.
INACTIVE Refers to legal entities that have been dissolved and no longer have any legal status.
Registration status
The following statuses are possible for marking the registration:
PENDING_VALIDATION The LEI registration has been applied for and is being processed.
ISSUED The registration details were checked within the last year and the corresponding LEI was assigned. ISSUED refers to an existing legal entity.
DUPLICATE The legal entity has already been registered under a different LEI. The LEI that is no longer valid is assigned the status DUPLICATE.
LAPSED The LEI registration has expired and the details have therefore not been checked for accuracy for over a year.
MERGED The legal entity was merged with another legal entity, i.e. the respective acquired legal entity no longer exists as an independent legal entity.
RETIRED The legal entity has ceased business operations (but has not been merged with another legal entity).
ANNULLED The LEI was classified as incorrect or invalid after it was issued.
CANCELLED The LEI was discontinued during the allocation process.
TRANSFERRED The LEI data record was transferred to another issuing authority.
PENDING_TRANSFER An LEI for which a transfer to another issuing office (LOU) has been requested. Once the transfer is complete, the status changes to ISSUED.
PENDING_ARCHIVAL An LEI that is about to be transferred to another LOU.
The LEIs are taken into account when exporting and importing securities.
