One of the most important challenges the financial industry has had to address since the financial crisis is the quality, scope and accessibility of financial information that would enable both firms and regulators to monitor and manage financial risks and the efficiency of their operations. To solve this problem, industry stakeholders and regulators have worked jointly to develop the Global LEI System.
A unique ID associated with a single legal entity, the LEI allows for consistent identification of parties to financial transactions, facilitating a consistent and integrated view of exposures. However, the full potential of the Global LEI System will not be reached until the standard is adopted universally across financial market participants. This is best achieved through regulatory mandates in major financial reporting standards, such as the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) or OTC derivatives reporting under the Dodd-Frank Act.
GFMA and its regional member trades have supported the adoption and promulgation of LEIs globally by stressing its utility and the benefits the system provides to both firms and regulators. GFMA remains committed to building awareness of the Global LEI System in close partnership with the Global LEI Foundation.
The Regulatory Oversight Committee (ROC) is a group of over 70 public authorities from more than 40 countries established in January 2013 to coordinate and oversee a worldwide framework of legal entity identification, the Global LEI System. The ROC oversees the Global LEI Foundation and develops policy standards for the Global LEI System.
The Global LEI Foundation is a supra-national not-for-profit organization making available the only global online source that provides open, standardized and high quality legal entity reference data free of charge. GLEIF manages a network of partners, the LEI issuing organizations, to provide trusted services and open, reliable data.
Source: www.gleif.org
GFMA in partnership with ISDA developed a response to the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) Regulatory Oversight Council (ROC) with industry feedback to the consultative document on LEI Eligibility for General Government Entities.
GFMA and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) provide joint comments in response to the Financial Stability Board (FSB) with industry input related to the FSB Thematic Peer Review (Peer Review) on Implementation of the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI).
GFMA provides comments to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Securities and Futures Commission supporting their proposal to mandate the use of the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) for certain reporting obligations.
Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA), Investment Industry Association of Canada (IIAC), The Institute of International Finance (IIF) and International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) provide response to the Legal Entity Identifier Regulatory Oversight Committee’s (ROC) “Consultation Document: Including data on branches in the Global LEI System.” Overall, the associations support the ROC’s proposal to incorporate an identification approach for branches into the Global LEI System (GLEIS) as there is a need for such an identifier. The associations strongly agree there is a need for a global, standardized approach for the regulatory reporting of branches and branch activity and believe the LEI system provides a good operational structure for this purpose. While the associations support new guidance for a branch identifier, they have several concerns with the approach proposed by the ROC and make recommendations for addressing those concerns in the letter.
GFMA Chief Executive Simon Lewis writes to the editors of the Financial Times calling for G20 finance ministers and financial heads of all nations to formally endorse the robust application of the international principle of comity – where the home regulator defers to the host regulator where the latter’s rules are consistent with the G20 recommendations and best practices.
The Securities Financing Transaction Regulation (SFTR) entered into force on 11 April 2019, with a phased-in compliance period. Compliance with the regulation requires that reporting firms provide their own LEIs as well as the LEIs of their counterparties. This document explains the requirement and the firms impacted.
This document provides answers to commonly asked questions regarding the LEI. Several regulators around the world require or are anticipated to require LEIs for transaction reporting and for other uses where clear identification of market participants is needed. Obtaining an LEI is a straightforward and efficient process.
These FAQs have been prepared based on a GFMA LEI Webinar at which members of ESMA participated. The answers have not been reviewed or confirmed by representatives of ESMA and are not official legal or regulatory guidance. Firms should rely on independent legal and regulatory sources to plan their LEI programs, including compliance with the requirements of MiFID II and EMIR.
http://www.gfma.org/uploadedFiles/News/Speeches/2015/gfma-lei-strongin-remarks.pdf
Release Date: 30 June 2014 Contact: Carol Danko, 202.962.7390, cdanko@sifma.org GFMA statement on the FSB's establishment of the Global LEI Foundation Washington, DC, June 30, 2014- GFMA today issued the following statement from Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., GFMA CEO and SIFMA president and CEO on the establishment of the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) by the Financial Stability Board Plenary: "GFMA welcomes the establishment of the Global LEI Foundation and the appointment of the first LEI Board of Directors by the Financial Stability Board (FSB). These are essential foundational elements for the development of the global LEI System, and will help catalyze the further expansion of the use of the LEI around the globe. "Having a uniform, global legal entity identifier standard will help regulators, supervisors, researchers and firms to better measure and monitor systemic risk, more effectively measure and manage counterparty exposure, and improve operational efficiencies. Overall, this standard will help support the shared objective of a more stable financial system." The announcement was made by the FSB on June 30, 2014 and further statements from the GLEIF can be found here and here. -30- The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) brings together the shared interests of hundreds of securities firms, banks and asset managers. SIFMA's mission is to support a strong financial industry, investor opportunity, capital formation, job creation and economic growth, while building trust and confidence in the financial markets. SIFMA, with offices in New York and Washington, D.C., is the U.S. regional member of the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA). For more information, visit http://www.sifma.org.
In a letter to the editor of the Financial Times, Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., - President and CEO of SIFMA and CEO of {SIFMA’s global affiliate} GFMA - encourages the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to urge regulators and policy makers across the globe to prioritize the use of LEIs as part of their toolkit for promoting financial stability.
http://www.gfma.org/uploadedFiles/Events/GFMABenchmarksBentsenOpeningRemarks022813.pdf
Release date: 11 October 2013 London, 11 October 2013 - GFMA released the following statement after the Regulatory Oversight Committee (ROC) of the Global Legal Entity Identifier System (GLEIS) endorsed three utilities as pre- Local Operating Units (pre-LOUs) with the authorization to issue pre-legal entity identifiers (pre-LEIs). The three pre-LOUs include the CICI Utility, as well as WM Datenservice and INSEE (issuing only to French entities). These pre-LOUs will issue pre-LEIs that will serve as common legal entity identifiers and will transition to the global system when it is completed. "The establishment of a global legal entity identifier system will dramatically improve systemic risk management in the financial industry. GFMA strongly supports the ROC's endorsement of these utilities to issue "mutually acceptable" pre-LEIs. The use of these pre-LEIs is a critical step forward for the GLEIS as it will enable the industry and regulators to start realizing the benefits of common identifiers now while work on the global system is completed. "Currently, there is no global standard for identifying parties to a financial transaction. Without a standard way to identify entities engaged in financial transactions, it is more challenging to measure the total exposure of one organization to another. The LEI initiative will dramatically improve systemic risk management by providing regulators and firms with more complete and accurate data on exposures in the financial system." -ENDS- The Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA) brings together three of the world's leading financial trade associations to address the increasingly important global regulatory agenda and to promote coordinated advocacy efforts. The Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) in London and Brussels, the Asia Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA) in Hong Kong and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) in New York and Washington are, respectively, the European, Asian and North American members of GFMA. For more information, visit http://www.gfma.org.
