How to obtain an LEI

LEIs are issued by "Local Operating Units" (LOUs) of the Global LEI System.

The list of LOUs accredited by the Global LEI Foundation can be found on the GLEIF website: https://www.gleif.org/en/about-lei/how-to-get-an-lei-find-lei-issuing-organizations.  

Some of these registries serve a given country while others offer services to entities worldwide. They may be differences as well in the languages available, facilities to register many entities in bulk, and price, among others. We invite you to check the websites of these registries to find the one that best suits your needs.

These websites also provide information on the process for obtaining an LEI, which complies with general principles set by the ROC, in particular: 

LEIs issued by pre-LOUs that have been endorsed by the ROC or accredited by the Global LEI Foundation are accepted by ROC authorities requiring the use of a common identifier (see LEI Uses). From 7 October 2015, new institutions that wish to become LEI issuers need to be accredited by the GLEIF, which will monitor their compliance with the standards of the Global LEI System. Pre-LOUs endorsed by the ROC also had to be accredited by the GLEIF, as part of the ongoing monitoring of compliance with the standards of the system, and the process was completed in early 2018. Now all LOUs have to operate under an accreditation by the GLEIF. The list of LOUs that had been endorsed by the ROC can be found  under this link: http://www.leiroc.org/publications/gls/lou_20131003_2.pdf but for the current list of authorised issuers, you are invited to check the list published by the GLEIF.

Portability of LEIs

An entity may "port" the maintenance of its LEI from one LOU to another. To do so, the authorised representative of the entity should contact the new LOU, specifying its already existing LEI number and providing any other document required by the new LOU. The new LOU will contact the original LOU. The LEI remains unchanged in the process. The original pre-LOU should not charge any porting fee.

 

What are the LOUs?

LOUs are the utilities endorsed by the ROC, or accredited by the GLEIF under ROC oversight, to provide LEI registrations to registrants and other services. The expression "pre-LOUs" is used to specifically refer to the LOUs endorsed by the ROC before the Global LEI Foundation was able to assume this function. To this end, the ROC had defined a set of principles to be observed by pre-LOUs.

LOUs make the LEIs and associated reference data available to the public and regulators free of charge and on a continuous basis.

From 7 October 2015, new institutions that wish to become LEI issuers need to be accredited by the GLEIF, which will monitor their compliance with the standards of the Global LEI System. Applications should be made to the GLEIF: those interested will find on the GLEIF website a description of the accreditation process. Applicants do not need any more to be sponsored by a ROC member, although ROC members will be informed of applications from applicants within their jurisdictions.

LOUs have a variety of statuses and may for instance be part of an entity conducting other activities such as business registries, stock exchanges, trade repositories, custodians of financial instruments, and numbering agencies issuing International Securities Identification Numbers.