The Legal Entity Identifier Regulatory Oversight Committee - LEI ROC
The Regulatory Oversight Committee (ROC) is a group of 69 public authorities with full membership and 19 observers from more than 50 countries established in January 2013 to coordinate and oversee a worldwide framework of legal entity identification, the Global LEI System. Read more about the ROC organization, membership and objectives.
The Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) is a 20-character, alpha-numeric code, to uniquely identify legally distinct entities that engage in financial transactions.
The ROC was established as a stand-alone committee after recommendations by the international Financial Stability Board (FSB) and endorsement of the ROC Charter by the Group of Twenty (G-20) nations in November 2012 (latest Charter revision in October 2020).
LEIs are issued by "Local Operating Units" (LOUs) of the Global LEI System (see how to obtain an LEI). As of 1 October 2020, over 1.7 million entities from over 200 countries and territories had obtained LEIs from 32 operational issuers accredited by the GLEIF.
A result of joint public and private sectors efforts, the LEI supports authorities and market participants in identifying and managing financial risks. In particular, LEIs may be used for reporting and other regulatory purposes in the various jurisdictions represented in the ROC (more about LEI uses). The LEI code is associated with reference data for each entity, currently including core identification information, such as the official name of the legal entity, the address of its headquarters and address of legal formation (more about the LEI and ROC work on reference data expansion), as well as, since 9 May 2017, parent information.
The Global LEI Foundation (GLEIF) was established in June 2014 as a not-for-profit organization overseen by the ROC to act as the operational arm of the Global LEI System. The foundation provides on their website a centralized database of LEIs and corresponding reference data. A search function was added in October 2015, where you can check if an entity has an LEI, or access the reference data associated with an LEI, including verifying whether the LEI is current and can be used in regulatory reporting (registration status: "issued"or "pending transfer"). From 7 October 2015, new institutions that wish to become LEI issuers need to be accredited by the GLEIF, which monitors their compliance with the standards of the Global LEI System. As of this date, the GLEIF also assumed the tasks of defining and maintaining the operational and technical standards of the system. The GLEIF also publishes the list of authorised LEI issuers. Find out more about the Global LEI Foundation here and on their website www.gleif.org.
The ROC will continue to uphold the governance principles of and to oversee the Global LEI System, in the broad public interest, including the development of policy standards for the LEI.
Latest updates
(Please register here to be notified of new publications)
- 4 February 2021: The LEI ROC publishes today an updated list of regulatory uses of the LEI as of end-January 2021 (also available in Excel format)
- 29 December 2020: The LEI ROC publishes today its final Guidance on LEI Eligibility for General Government Entities, which provides clarifications on the implementation of LEIs for General Government Entities. The ROC acknowledges the contributions to the public consultation that provided valuable inputs for finalising this guidance.
- 1 October 2020: The ROC becomes the International Governance Body for the Unique Transaction Identifier, Unique Product Identifier and Critical Data Elements - Press release
- 19 June 2020: The Regulatory Oversight Committee (ROC) has published today a Statement on GLEIF Mapping Service.
- 4 February 2020: "The Value of the LEI for Identification in Digital Processes" - Remarks by Financial Stability Board Vice Chair Klaas Knot at the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation Meet the Market Event in Amsterdam.
- 25 October 2019: The LEI ROC publishes today a Consultative Document on LEI Eligibility for General Government Entities.
- 24 October 2019: "Trust and the Global Coffeehouse: Digital Verification and the Legal Entity Identifier in a Modern Financial Market" - Remarks by Dr. Dino Falaschetti, Director of the Office of Financial Research at the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation Forum on "Accelerating into a Digital Future: Simplifying Entity Identification for the Digital Age"
- 5 July 2019: The LEI ROC publishes today an updated list of regulatory uses of the LEI as of end-June 2019 (also available in Excel format)
- 20 May 2019: The LEI ROC publishes today its final Policy on Fund relationships in the Global LEI System, which provides definitions of relationships affecting investment funds or collective investment schemes ("Fund Management Entity", "Umbrella Fund", "Master-Feeder") and specifies when reporting these relationships would be optional or not. It also includes new guidelines for the registration of investment funds in the GLEIS. The LEI ROC thanks those who contributed to the two public consultations and thereby provided precious help in preparing this document.
- February 2019: At its Plenary meeting of 30-31 January in Seoul, the LEI ROC appointed as its new Chairman Alan Deaton, Associate Director, Statistics Branch, Division of Insurance and Research, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, United States. He is assisted by three Vice-Chairs: Jurgen Boyd, Financial Sector Conduct Authority, South Africa; P. Vasudevan, Reserve Bank of India; and François Laurent, European Central Bank. The LEI ROC approved at this meeting revisions to its Charter allowing in particular a third Vice-Chair position.
