Around the world, business owners use legal entity identifiers (LEIs) to register and identify their businesses and other entities. LEIs are used for identification and verification purposes, such as facilitating credit checks and confirming identity. A legal entity identifier is a 20-digit number that can be found using an LEI finder. It is used to identify businesses and other organisations and helps to prevent identity theft by ensuring that entities have only one number rather than many different identifiers, such as company names and addresses. This post will educate you further on LEI and help you identify your LEI number if you have one.
What Is Exactly A Legal Entity Identifier Number?
A Legal entity identifier (LEI) is a 20-digit code assigned to a legal entity for identification. The LEI consists of a Global Legal Entity Identifier (GLEI) and a Local Legal Entity Identifier (LLEI).
The GLEI is a globally unique reference number that identifies an entity in the financial markets. It is issued by the Standard ISO 17442 Registration Authority (RA), also known as the “Global LEI System”. The GLEI comprises three parts:
- A common root component which identifies ISO 17442 as the standard under which an LEI was assigned;
- An organisation identifier, which indicates what type of organisation was assigned this LEI; and
- A local component which identifies specific characteristics of an entity within its country or jurisdiction of domicile.
Why Does A Company Need A Legal Entity Identifier Number?
There are several reasons why having an LEI is essential:
- It makes it easier for banks and other institutions to verify your identity when they do business with you.
- It reduces the risk of fraud by making it easier for companies to confirm that they’re dealing with legitimate companies when they make payments or receive invoices from them.
- It provides more transparency about who owns what companies around the world and also provides information on any pending lawsuits against the organisation.
How To Find Any Legal Entity Identifier Number?
LEI Search is a free service that allows you to search for your LEI number and other related information. The LEI finder tool allows you to do the following:
- Search for your or others’ LEI numbers by providing the relevant information, such as company name or industry. If you do not know your company name, type your company’s country code here and its industry code and click on the “Submit” button.
- Check if your or others’ business has an active LEI number by searching for it using its name or country code. If there is no record of the same, it means that the business has yet to be assigned with an LEI or that its record has been deleted from the database for any reason (such as a merger).
Final Thoughts:
You need a legal entity identifier to invest in European financial markets. The good news is that obtaining one is not overly complicated as long as you have all the proper documentation and information. If you only want to check the LEI number of any business entity, you can follow the measures mentioned in this post to obtain quick results.
