LEI
A twenty-character global identifier for a legal entity that takes part in financial transactions.
Updated 2026-07-26
The Legal Entity Identifier was introduced so that regulators in different countries could talk about the same company without matching names. It identifies the legal person — the entity that signs contracts — rather than any security it issues.
An LEI carries a registration status. A lapsed LEI still identifies the entity correctly; it only means the registration has not been renewed, which is an administrative fact and not a statement about the company.
Where a source publishes an LEI we keep it, because it is one of the few identifiers that crosses jurisdictions and therefore helps link a filer to an entry on a sanctions list.
Related terms
4 entries- CIK
- The permanent numeric identifier the SEC assigns to every filer — company, fund or individual.
- Designation
- The formal act of placing a person or entity on a sanctions list, with a date and a legal basis.
- Entity resolution
- Deciding whether two records from different sources describe the same company or person.
- Sanctions list
- An official register of persons and entities subject to restrictive measures, published by a government or an international body.