Streamlined Entity Verification by GLEIF and SWIFT
Global reference data can underpin commerce, risk management and oversight in entirely new ways. The more that information needed to identify key features of business activity can be defined in a way that crosses national boundaries, the greater the benefits. This was the idea that drove the creation of the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI): reference data for the identification of organisations, initially within the financial sector.
Now, downstream use of the LEI is starting to become a reality.
The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) has published its first monthly relationship file matching a Business Identifier Code (BIC) assigned to an organisation against its Legal Entity Identifier (LEI). This model, jointly undertaken by GLEIF and SWIFT is set to significantly streamline entity verification processes and reduce data management costs.
The launch of this open data file enables market participants, for the first time, to link and cross-reference these key entity identifiers – free of charge.
The BIC-to-LEI relationship file is itself is built upon a mapping process established by SWIFT and certified by GLEIF. It is published on the GLEIF website in CSV format and will continue to be updated monthly. So far, more than one million LEIs have been issued to legal entities globally. Of the approximately 130,000 BICs assigned to date, some 45,000 pertain to organisations that are legal entities or foreign branches and therefore qualify for the mapping against LEIs.
Read more on the GLEIF blog here.
