
Legal Entity Identifier – From Global Crisis to Global Trust
A Code That Started with a Crisis The Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) isn’t just another compliance requirement—it’s a system built to restore trust in global finance. After the 2008 financial crisis, regulators around the world realized something alarming: there was no unified way to identify legal entities across markets. As a result, it was nearly impossible to assess who owed what to whom, and where risk was concentrated. To solve this, the G20 asked the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to design a solution. That initiative gave birth to the Global Legal Entity Identifier System (GLEIS).The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF), a non-profit based in Switzerland, has governed the LEI system since 2014.As of today, organizations have obtained over 2.9 million LEIs across more than 200 jurisdictions — making the LEI one of the most widely recognized global identifiers for







