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.