Annual Report 2019
Annual Report 2019
Get to Know GLEIF
LEIs Worldwide
2019 Highlights
Chairman’s Statement
CEO’s Statement
Performance
Directors’ Report
Governance Statement
LEI for Business Value
Partnerships
Financial Statements 2019
Notes to the Financial Statements 2019
Independent Auditor’s Report
Board of Directors, CEO and LEI ROC Chairs
Overview of Professional Advisors
General Information
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Table of Contents
GLEIF simplifies global legal entity identification in the digital age.
GLEIF
Simplifying
Global Legal Entity
Identification
in the Digital Age
Get to Know GLEIF
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GLEIF
― Endorsed by the G20
― Governance: oversight by regulators
― Not-for-profit with no commercial agenda
― Global and local expertise
― Leader in entity identification
GLEIF services ensure the operational integrity of the Global LEI System. GLEIF also makes available the technical infrastructure to provide, via an open data license, access to the full global LEI repository free of charge to users.
The organization is overseen by the LEI Regulatory Oversight Committee (LEI ROC), which is made up of representatives of public authorities from across the globe. The responsibility for governance lies with the GLEIF Board of Directors, which is comprised of 18 independent directors.
GLEIF operates the Global LEI System in conjunction with LEI issuing organizations, which were established to verify business information, such as an entity’s ownership structure.
Only organizations accredited by GLEIF can issue LEIs.
GLEIF believes in the power of the LEI as a global standard to enable trusted legal entity identification, responding to the needs of the digital age.
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Global LEI Index:
A free global directory to promote transparency
Global LEI Index
― Adheres to Open Data Charter
― Free of charge access with no registration required
― Accurate, up-to-date reference and ownership data
― High data quality, validated and verified
― Data file downloads, API access
― Maps to other identifiers
GLEIF enables smarter, less costly and more reliable decisions about who to do business with.
GLEIF does this by supporting the implementation of the LEI and by making available the Global LEI Index. This is the only global online source that provides open, standardized and high-quality legal entity reference data. The Global LEI Index contains historical and current LEI records including related reference data in one authoritative, central repository. The reference data represents the information on a legal entity identifiable with an LEI.
The Global LEI Index brings efficiency, transparency and trust to legal entity identification. Backed by the LEI Regulatory Oversight Committee (LEI ROC), it is the only online source with the potential to capture any entity engaging in financial transactions globally, regardless of who generates these transactions. In partnership with the LEI issuing organizations, GLEIF provides in-depth knowledge of local markets and can be relied on to make the correct information available year after year.
Any interested party can access and search the complete LEI data pool free of charge and without the need to register.
The Global LEI Index is of direct benefit to participants of the global business community, including data suppliers and their customers, software providers, vendors and fintech organizations. It removes efforts associated with the maintenance of entity reference data and empowers market participants to cut costs, simplify and accelerate operations, and gain a deeper insight into the global marketplace.
Get to Know GLEIF
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One global identity for every business
LEI
― Unique to each organization
― Global ISO standard
― Broad public good for use in the public and private sectors
― Robust data quality management
― Provides transparency in financial transactions
Vision
GLEIF believes that each business worldwide should have only one global identity, which can support participation in an increasingly digital economy. LEIs can realize this objective.
GLEIF is on a journey to increase the rate of LEI adoption so, in the future, the Global LEI Index will capture an increasing number of entities engaging in financial transactions globally, providing a 360-degree view.
Mission
GLEIF’s mission is to provide trusted services and open, reliable data for unique legal entity identification worldwide. It does this by managing a network of partners, known as the LEI issuing organizations, ensuring the integrity of the Global LEI System.
GLEIF promotes broad LEI adoption in the private sector to generate significant advantages for the wider business community.
Legal Entity Identifier: A Global ID for businesses
The LEI is a 20-character, alphanumeric code based on the ISO 17442 standard
developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The LEI uniquely
identifies legal entities that engage in financial transactions, thereby helping to create
greater transparency in the marketplace. Each LEI contains information about an entity’s
ownership structure, answering the questions of “who is who” and “who owns whom”.
It provides a universally recognized identifier paired with essential entity data, rigorous
verification processes and high data quality. The LEI is a reporting requirement for several
market regulatory organizations globally.
Get to Know GLEIF
LEI is the linchpin that connects the dots across the universe of entity identification.
LEIs Worldwide
Stable growth of the Global LEI System
Backed by a strong governance system, GLEIF enables trusted global identification of legal entities in an increasingly digital world, through the Global LEI System.
This map shows the total number of active LEIs by jurisdiction in the Global LEI System on 31 December 2019.
Visit the GLEIF website to access information on the number of LEIs issued by country https://www.gleif.org/en/lei-data/global-lei-index/lei-statistics/
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At the end of 2019, the LEI data pool had grown by 14% to approximately 1.5 million LEIs worldwide.
This translates to the Global LEI Index containing accurate and up-to-date reference and ownership data on approximately 1.5 million companies and organizations in over 250 countries and territories worldwide.
2019 Highlights
GLEIF in numbers
3,110
data challenges managed
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accredited LEI issuing organizations ensure data is verified and accurate
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GLEIF responses to public consultations
~ 1,500
daily file downloads (golden copy and concatenated file)
14.5 million
revenue
1,744
processed requests in data quality
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staff members from
21
countries
2,109
service desk inquiries managed
250+
countries and territories* with LEI service availability
~ 1.5 million
legal entities with an LEI worldwide
>99%
LEI data quality score
410
data quality reports issued
+14%
growth of
LEI data pool
+ 17%
growth of relationship data
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*Based on the ISO 3166-2 standard for country codes.
Regulatory Use of the LEI Worldwide
Providing an overview of regulatory activities globally, including the use of the LEI.
LEI Look – up API
Provides users with faster, customized and automated access to the legal entity identifier data pool in real time.
LEI Business Statistics
Access to key facts and figures on the global LEI population.
LEI Search 2.0
Enhanced functionality enables identification of corporate ownership structures and pinpoints other identifiers that are mapped to an LEI.
Certification of LEI Mapping Service
Provides users with accurate cross-referencing of key entity identifiers, free of charge.
― BIC-to-LEI mapping
― ISIN-to-LEI mapping
Global Registration Authority List
Reference to over 700 (business) registers. Users of the LEI data can identify the authoritative source associated with a legal entity, thus making the LEI data more reliable and usable.
Free Level 2 Ownership Data:
“Who Owns Whom”
Users have access to the only free global ownership data source connecting the corporate dots based on open, standardized and high‑quality LEI data.
First Entity Legal Forms Code List
Enhanced to over 2,100 entity legal forms and 90 jurisdictions: richer data provides an improved user experience and more global marketplace insight.
Annual Accreditation Verification
Process of re-verification of the LEI issuing organization's compliance with expected internal controls within its LEI operations.
Golden Copy File
Data users obtain frequently updated information on LEIs and related reference data in a ready‑to‑use format.
Accreditation Certification Service
Ensuring quality and performance standards for LEI services.
Data Quality Management Program
Monitoring and ensuring high-quality data for users.
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2019 Highlights
GLEIF's core services
Gerard Hartsink
Dear Stakeholder,
Six years ago, our journey began when I was appointed Chairman of GLEIF’s Board of Directors by the Financial Stability Board (FSB). We started with little and we have achieved a lot with our partners to be proud of, particularly in a changing regulatory and technological environment. Today, the LEI is a recognized global standard for business processes and for reporting purposes in many jurisdictions. Guided by the mandate of our Foundation to implement the LEI as a broad public good, our users benefit from a rich data repository. Our GLEIF services span across 250 countries and territories. Over that period, GLEIF has been transformed into a strong and agile organization. Our governance and oversight are solid and unique. LEI use cases for market participants and for public agencies are many and varied, including for new technologies such as blockchain.
GLEIF continued to develop the areas highlighted in our strategy, namely developing tangible LEI use cases for the financial sector, the digital economy and the supply chain. I welcome GLEIF’s increased engagement with stakeholders across industries and with users of the public sector.
I would like to highlight three milestones GLEIF and our partners accomplished during 2019.
A breakthrough for market participants is definitely the new ISIN‑to‑LEI mapping. GLEIF and ANNA (Association of National Numbering Agencies) joined forces to link both their ISO standards in a certified mapping
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Chairman’s Statement
service, thus providing investors and other users with a clear view of the securities exposure of a given issuer and its related entities, and this service is provided free of charge.
In 2019, our Board of Directors approved the GLEIS 2.0 project to help banks to reduce costs and respond to KYC challenges associated with their business processes. This is an opportunity to use the LEI holistically as a tool to support many bank functions, such as data aggregation for risk management, client onboarding, compliance needs, banks’ correspondent bank relations and cash management services for their clients, to name just a few. GLEIS 2.0 is not only focused on the use of the LEI by the financial industry, but by all businesses to help achieve the further digitalization of processes in the global supply chain. I expect to see these developments bear fruits in the coming years.
The Global LEI System peer review, published in May 2019 by our founder, the FSB, took stock of the implementation of the LEI in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Today, over 100 rules refer to the use of the LEI. The FSB mentioned that more needs to be done.
