None of the benefits that could be gleaned from the establishment of the Legal Entity Identifier have been realized and there is no evidence that the status quo will change anytime soon. To jumpstart the adoption and usefulness of the LEI, regulators must mandate the world’s largest financial institutions register or pay them to comply.
Recently, the Global Legal Entity Identification Foundation (GLEIF) began a roadshow to update market participants on the progress being made on LEI adoption. There was a “Meet the Market” event in London in late January, a webinar in early February, and a series of other meetings have been scheduled.
The message is encouraging—it seems as if GLEIF executives have a plan and a new focus on transparency. All of this is welcomed, since up until now there has been plenty of cheerleading by a handful of regulators and industry players but little tangible progress of late. Just because there are more than 300,000 entities that have been assigned an LEI does not equate to progress being made.
