Focus on LEI code

The Legal Entity Identifier, the unique identifier for participants in the financial markets, is based on the international standard ISO 17442: 2012, "Financial services - Schéma didentifier legalité (IEL)".

Each LEI corresponds to a legal entity, which is a legal person or a structure defined by the legislation of a territory (with the exception of natural persons). The purpose of the LEI is to uniquely identify a legal entity on a global scale.

Following the adoption of ISO 17442: 2012, the FSB has confirmed the 20 character structure of LEI codes to be used for the global LEI system:

  • Characters 1 to 4: a four character prefix uniquely assigned to each LOU
  • Characters 5 and 6: two reserved characters set to zero
  • Characters 7 to 18: non-significant alphanumeric part
  • Characters 19 and 20: two check digits as described in ISO 17442: 2012 standards
Illustration of the structure of the LEI code
Illustration of the structure of the LEI code