GLEIF Updates List of LEI Regulations, Embeds LEI in Annual Report
The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) updated the list of current and proposed regulatory activities with respect to the use of Legal Entity Identifier (LEI). The list leads to domestic implementation documents for jurisdictions that require LEI and indicates the effective date of the respective regulatory requirements. Meanwhile, as organization prepare to embed their LEI in financial reports in line with the new European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) requirements, GLEIF is urging them to go beyond compliance requirements and include LEI within the electronic signatures of signing officers, to maximize trust in document authenticity and integrity. GLEIF has demonstrated how simple it is to use and benefit from this feature, by embedding its own LEI in the signing officers’ digital signatures within its newly published 2020 annual report.
The ESEF’s mandatory inclusion of LEI within financial reports automatically links the filing entity to its annually verified LEI reference data—such as name, registered address, and corporate ownership structure—held within the Global LEI Index, which is free to access online. This empowers market participants who rely on official documents to inform strategic decisions (for example, traders, investors, regulators) to quickly and easily consolidate and verify information on a filing entity. There are numerous macro-level market advantages of LEI inclusion within financial reports. These include greater end user trust in the authenticity of financial information, automated access to aggregated data on the filing entity, increased transparency on an entity’s ownership structure, and an enhanced ability for regulators to minimize market abuse. Beyond the European Union-wide mandate of the European Securities and Markets Agency (ESMA), the European Central Bank (ECB) has also recognized the benefits of extending LEI use to cover all future public reporting and financial transactions. Consequently, the European Systemic Risk Board has recommended the establishment of an EU legislative framework for greater adoption of LEIs across the European Union. One objective of the recommendation is to ensure the systematic and comprehensive use of the LEI for identification of entities in the reporting of financial information.
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Keywords: International, Banking, Insurance, Securities, Reporting, Regulatory Activities, LEI, GLEIS, ESEF, Annual Report, ECB, ESRB, GLEIF
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