LEI Data Access and Use LEI Data

Level 1 Data: Who is Who



The Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) connects to key reference data that provides the information on a legal entity identifiable with an LEI. The ISO 17442 standard developed by the International Organization for Standardization defines a set of attributes or LEI reference data that comprises the most essential elements of identification. It specifies the minimum reference data, which must be supplied for each LEI:

  • The official name of the legal entity as recorded in the official registers.
  • The registered address of that legal entity.
  • The country of formation.
  • The codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions.
  • The date of the first LEI assignment; the date on which the legal entity first established; the date of last update of the LEI information; and the date of expiry, if applicable.

Additional information may be registered as agreed between the legal entity and its LEI issuing organization. The business card information available with the legal entity reference data is referred to as ‘Level 1’ data. It provides the answer to the question of ‘who is who’.

The LEI-Common Data File (CDF) format defines how LEI issuing organizations report their LEI and Level 1 reference data.

The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) has published the Global LEI Index. It contains historical and current LEI records including related reference data in one authoritative, central repository. GLEIF offers various means to access the publicly available LEI data pool. Subject to the selected mode of accessing the LEI data pool, users are able to source additional information relevant to an LEI record such as enriched reference data or other identifiers that have been mapped to the LEI.

Any interested party can access and search the complete LEI data pool free of charge and without the need to register. To explore the various means offered by GLEIF to access the LEI data pool, refer to these dedicated website pages:

In addition, the LEI data pool includes the ‘Level 2’ data that answers the question of ‘who owns whom’.