LEI — Legal Entity Identifier
A 20-character code from ISO 17442 that identifies a legal entity taking part in financial transactions — a company, a fund, a public body. It answers 'who', where an ISIN answers 'what'. LEI data is open: GLEIF publishes the full register under CC0.
- Standard
- ISO 17442
- Length
- 20 characters
- Check digit
- ISO 7064 MOD 97-10 (two check digits)
- Answers
- Who — the legal entity
- Steward
- GLEIF (Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation)
- Authoritative registry
- GLEIF search
- Licensing
- Open — the full GLEIF reference file is published under CC0 and may be redistributed without conditions. This is the strongest licensing position of any identifier on this page.
- Coverage in our dataset
- 119 of 121 covered companies
Anatomy of the code
| Part | In the example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Positions 1–4 | HWUP | Local Operating Unit (LOU) prefix — the issuing organisation |
| Positions 5–6 | KR | Reserved, always '00' |
| Positions 7–18 | 0MPOU8FGXBT3 | Entity-specific part assigned by the LOU |
| Positions 19–20 | 94 | Check digits, ISO 7064 MOD 97-10 |
Validate one now
The validator on the Identifiers page recognises LEI automatically and checks its check digit in your browser — nothing is sent to a server.
Open the validator with LEI example Parsing code (Python / TypeScript)
Questions
What is an LEI?
A 20-character code from ISO 17442 that identifies a legal entity taking part in financial transactions — a company, a fund, a public body. It answers 'who', where an ISIN answers 'what'. LEI data is open: GLEIF publishes the full register under CC0.
Who issues LEIs?
Accredited Local Operating Units issue them under GLEIF governance; the first four characters of the code identify the issuing LOU. An LEI must be renewed annually, and a lapsed LEI still resolves but is flagged.
How is an LEI validated?
The whole 20-character string, with letters converted to numbers, must equal 1 modulo 97 (ISO 7064 MOD 97-10). Two check digits sit at the end, and the algorithm catches transpositions that a simple checksum would miss.
Why do regulators require LEIs?
After 2008 it was impossible to aggregate exposure to a counterparty across jurisdictions because every dataset named entities differently. The LEI was created by the G20 as a shared answer to 'which legal entity is this'.
The other identifiers
Every financial fact needs four resolutions: who (LEI), what (ISIN/FIGI/CUSIP/SEDOL), where (MIC) and in what unit (ISO 4217). The Standards page shows how they fit together; Identifiers resolves them against our data. seed-0.7 · marketcap-1 · 2026-08-30.