Bloomberg Receives Approval to Issue Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs)

Bloomberg today it has received approval to issue and maintain legal entity identifiers, or LEIs, as an accredited Local Operating Unit (LOU) of the Global LEI System (GLEIS). Bloomberg joins a select network of LOUs accredited by the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) to create, assign and maintain LEIs, which are increasingly being utilized by regulators to provide greater transparency into financial markets and lower risk for market participants.

Bloomberg can now issue and maintain LEIs for entities through its LEI request and registration portal: lei.bloomberg.com.

Peter Warms, senior manager of fixed income, symbology and entity content at Bloomberg, commented, ?The LEI system helps market participants — both public and private — access an open source standard for identification that will be used to better understand risk across the global financial marketplace. We’re proud to be a part of this global effort to adopt LEIs, enhance the quality of financial data and bring transparency and efficiency to the capital markets.”

Entities that need, or are required to obtain, an LEI can use Bloomberg’s portal to register for a new LEI and maintain, renew, or even transfer existing LEIs from existing LOUs to Bloomberg. The site provides for ease of use while maintaining the basic tenets of privacy and service. Entities will be able to apply for LEIs through the Bloomberg LOU in one of three ways:

  1. Directly through the Bloomberg LOU website at lei.bloomberg.com.
  2. Via Bloombergs Entity Exchange, a platform for securely exchanging data and documents related to opening and maintaining trading accounts.
  3. On the Bloomberg Terminal at LEI .

Accreditation is the process by which GLEIF evaluates the suitability of organizations seeking to operate within the Global LEI System as issuers of LEIs and custodians of LEI reference data. Becoming a member of the Global LEI System via GLEIF accreditation is a globally recognized designation of commitment to data quality and customer service. GLEIF looks forward to cooperating with Bloomberg in its role as an accredited LEI issuer said Stephan Wolf, CEO of GLEIF.

Bloomberg’s Global Data Group also supports Bloomberg’s responsibilities as a Registration Authority and issuer of the Financial Instrument Global Identifier (FIGI) standard under the auspices of the Object Management Group.

“The use cases for the LEI are coming into focus because of MiFID II’s January 2018 implementation deadline. MiFID II has a clear directive: ‘No LEI, No trade'”, commented Steve Meizanis, head of Entity Content Management at Bloomberg, ?U.S. institutions that want to continue doing business with trading counterparties in Europe will need to obtain an LEI in order to comply with MiFID II and other regulatory mandates in Europe and around the world. We look forward to helping Bloomberg clients and other organizations adhere to these requirements by providing a seamless and cost effective way for them to request and maintain their LEIs.?

As a leading provider of financial information and reference data, Bloomberg maintains information for more than 4 million public and private entities. Bloomberg’s entity coverage includes basic business card data (addresses, phone and fax numbers), registry information, full sanction coverage as well as hierarchical data consisting of immediate parent, ultimate parent and obligor.