Frequently Asked Questions

An LEI, Legal Entity Identifier, is a code used for unique identification of legal entities.

An LEI becomes public and will identify a legal entity (e.g. limited liability company, trust, mutual fund) uniquely and consistently. An LEI is 20 characters long, e.g.: 549300O897ZC5H7CY412

To see what data is published in relation to an LEI please see the following link for NordLEI’s LEI (Nordic Legal Entity Identifier AB): https://www.gleif.org/lei/549300O897ZC5H7CY412

All LEIs that are issued can be seen in the Global Legal Entity Identifier System, which is a public register common for all jurisdictions worldwide. The register is supervised by the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation, 'GLEIF' and was initially an initiative by the Financial Stability Board ('FSB') and the G20 countries after the financial crisis in 2008.

The primary usage of LEI identifiers is for banks’ regulatory reporting of clients' securities- and derivatives transactions to financial supervisory authorities. The reporting is a legal consequence of the introduction of two financial EU regulations, the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) and the Markets in Financial Instruments Direct II (MiFID II/MiFIR).

Most often, our clients are encouraged by their bank to apply for an LEI, as this is a prerequisite for banks to fulfil the regulatory reporting obligation of applicable transactions in financial instruments that their clients have entered into.

The annual renewal of your LEI requires your active participation by logging into the NordLEI portal to confirm that you still want to keep the LEI maintained. You are requested to update and confirm information about your company/legal entity in case anything has changed, e.g. address updates, changed company name etc.

An LEI is considered 'active' (or 'renewed') 12 months from issuance or 12 months from the most recent annual renewal. An active LEI is a regulatory requirement under the EU directives EMIR and MiFID II and is related to the legal transaction reporting undertaken by banks on behalf of their clients.

Renewal of your LEI's validity is easily achieved by clicking the 'Renew LEI' menu item in the NordLEI portal. This presumes that you have logged in to the NordLEI portal, either by entering your log in credentials in the log in page, or by clicking the link provided in NordLEIs automatic emails that are sent to you when it is time for renewal. Once redirected to the renewal page, you are requested to:

• i) Choose whether to renew or close your LEI by clicking in the dropdown list in the right hand side column of the displayed grid.
• ii) Click 'Continue' to review and eventually adjust the displayed legal entity details shown in the form.
• iii) Click to checkout your LEIs subject to renewal.
• iv) Pay by one of the available payment methods.

'Issued' and 'Lapsed' are the two most common statuses that an LEI can have. An 'Issued' LEI is active and hence valid for transaction reporting. A 'Lapsed' LEI is no longer active.

An LEI has a NEXT RENEWAL DATE from which date it will no longer be active. If the NEXT RENEWAL DATE is in the future the LEI will have status 'Issued' until then.

An LEI will expire and become inactive ('Lapsed') if it is not actively renewed annually. The renewal can be undertaken in the NordLEI portal at any point when it is close to the LEI’s expiry date. In cases where an LEI has already expired, the renewal can be undertaken in the NordLEI portal at any given time.

The intent of the LEI System is to identify legal entities uniquely and consistently. To assure data quality and keep changes up to date we recommend our clients to do annual maintenance.

In addition to this certain EU and international regulations demand that an LEI is active, e.g. EMIR (European Market Infrastructure Regulation) for derivatives positions and MiFID II to be able to open a securities account with an EU investment firm or bank.

The user account holder will receive an email from us when it is time to renew the validity period for another 12 months. If the LEI is not renewed, we will inform when it becomes inactive, i.e. 'lapses'.

You need to make sure that the data kept in the register is still correct or otherwise corrected. Such information includes legal name, legal address, headquarters address, applicable business registry and business registry number. In addition, you will be requested to confirm information about the ownership structure of your legal entity.

The LEI registration will be renewed as close to its current renewal date as possible and extended by 12 months.

Early renewal and payment do not affect (shorten) the current validity period. Instead, NordLEI waits for the prolongation until close to the LEI's expiry date - regardless of when the payment is received.

NordLEI recommends immediate payment to avoid invalidity of the LEI for a period.

As it often takes 1-2 business days to receive and register a payment, these delays sometimes allow for reminders to be sent out.

If you have paid without the correct reference number, we cannot match your payment which may severely delay the LEI issuing process.

If you have renewed the LEI but submitted a payment date (with your bank) that is close to the end of the current maintenance period, you will receive reminders until the payment is registered.

Registering of a user account is easily achieved via the following link login.

Make sure you register a user account by choosing an email that you frequently use and a password that meets NordLEI's security requirements, i.e. minimum 8 characters containing at least a capital letter and a number.

Within a few moments after the registration, you will receive a verification email (check your spam filter if not). By clicking the link in the email, you will confirm your user account and be automatically redirected to the NordLEI portal.

Only a logged in user can apply for an LEI, renew an already existing LEI or transfer an LEI.

Please, check your spam inbox. If you cannot find it please contact support@nordlei.org.

Have you confirmed your account? After registering a user account you should receive a verification email with a link. By clicking the link you confirm your account.

If you have not received the confirmation email check your spam filter or contact support@nordlei.org

Please visit the login page.

Register a new user account or log in to your existing user account if you already have one.

Please visit Forgot password?.

You can later change the provided password after logging in by clicking your email address in the upper right corner.

You can change the email address when you are logged in by clicking your email address in the upper right corner.

You can choose to add a secondary contact email address as well as a group email address to a user account. You can also update these email addresses at a later stage. These two or more contacts will then also receive any automated emails and reminders, as well as have access to the user account through sent out login links.

Your colleague must register their own user account via the login page. Once the user account has been verified, your colleague can request to transfer LEI by selecting 'Transfer LEI' from the menu list.

If you try to register a new user account and the password is not accepted, please be sure that it meets NordLEI's security requirements, i.e. a minimum of 8 characters containing at least one capital letter and a number.

If you do not remember your already existing account´s password, you may order new one om the forgot password page.

If your LEI is currently registered with another service provider you can easily transfer it to NordLEI free of charge.

An LEI already being administered by another NordLEI user account can also be transferred free of charge with the consent of the current account owner. Please contact support@nordlei.org.

A transfer can take up to 7 business days but is usually faster. The current LOU, Local Operating Unit, needs to approve the transfer and they will contact you.

An LEI already registered in the NordLEI portal can be transferred to another user account within 24 hours.

All LEIs and the corresponding reference data are public information at GLEIF (the official global database for LEI data).

Please visit www.gleif.org/en/lei/search

Initiate a transfer of an existing LEI from its current service provider to NordLEI under the main menu item 'Transfer Existing LEI' or contact us at support@nordlei.org.

Your existing LEI will be transferred without any changes to its structure or content.

Once the LEI is transferred to NordLEI, you will be reminded to renew your LEI.

You can register any change to the company data at the time of the renewal or by submitting a challenge as a logged in client.

Any changes to the status of a legal entity that has an LEI is to be reported. You can register the change by submitting a challenge as a logged in client. If possible, please provide a reference to a public data source or document.

See our prices on the pricing page.

By card payment, or by bank transfer and international payment using the payment instructions on your order confirmation.

Please contact support@nordlei.org if your order has been cancelled, but you still wish to pay in order for your application or renewal to be initiated.

If you have chosen to pay via bank transfer, identification and registering of your payment usually take 1-2 banking days. If you have paid today, we will most likely register your payment within 2 working days.

Status 'awaiting payment' means, that we have not registered your payment yet. If you do not use the correct order confirmation reference number when submitting your payment, we cannot match your payment.

The payment instructions are found on your order confirmation.

NordLEI accepts local payments in Denmark (DKK), Norway (NOK), Sweden (SEK) and Finland/Euro countries (EUR). We also accept international payment by SWIFT or SEPA payment in USD, EUR and SEK.

NordLEI cannot accept credit risk for issuing or renewal of an LEI. The complete process includes the following steps:

• 1) New LEI application or LEI renewal registration
• 2) Order confirmation sent to the customer with payment instructions (email)
• 3) Payment by domestic transfer or international payment order
• 4) Receipt sent to the customer (by email)
• 5) Validation process starts and the LEI is issued or the validity is extended

The reason for the above operational model is that NordLEI initiates the LEI issuance /renewal process only when full payment is received.

NordLEI's order confirmations and receipts comply with current EU directives and practices for what a payment and accounting documentation should and must contain.

Yes, once your payment is received and registered by NordLEI, a receipt for accounting purposes will be sent to you by email.

The services we provide will be charged by our Swedish company 'Nordic Legal Entity Identifier AB'.

For EU customers (outside Sweden): If the VAT number you enter is valid according to the so-called 'reversed charge' principle of purchasing services from another EU country, VAT will not be charged. In case an invalid VAT number is entered, the NordLEI portal will display a warning. In order for the user not having a valid VAT number to proceed, the VAT field must be left blank. By doing so, Swedish VAT of 25% will be charged on the order confirmation for customers located in the EU VAT union.

For Swedish customers: Swedish VAT of 25% will be charged and declared in all cases.

For non-EU customers: No VAT will be charged or withheld.

More about approved VAT numbers can be found in the following link: https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/business/vat/eu-vat-rules-topic/vies-vat-information-exchange-system-enquiries_en

The billing data is only collected once a year, with new registration or annual renewal. There is no need to update the billing data during the year. If you still want to update your billing data, you may do so under your account when you are logged in.

You can find all orders and invoices under the main menu item 'Your Orders' once logged in to your account in the NordLEI portal.

If you have registered a new application or renewal, but not checked out your order in the NordLEI portal, we will remind you to do so by email. To complete your order simply click the Shopping Cart icon in the upper right corner and select 'Go to Checkout'.

Please use the correct reference when remitting your payment. The reference can be found on the order confirmation.

Contact receivables@nordlei.org and provide a receipt of the payment as well as the order confirmation number.

An LEI, Legal Entity Identifier, is a code used for unique identification of legal entities. Any legal entity having had an LEI issued is thereby represented in the Global LEI System, which is a public register common for all jurisdictions worldwide. The register is supervised by the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation, 'GLEIF' and was initially an initiative by the G20 countries. A legal entity can only have one LEI issued. Below you can see an example of an LEI.

NordLEIs LEI: 549300O897ZC5H7CY412

The primary usage of LEIs is for banks’ regulatory reporting of clients' securities- and derivatives transactions to financial supervisory authorities. The reporting is a legal consequence of the introduction of two main financial EU regulations, the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) and the Markets in Financial Instruments Direct II (MiFID II/MiFIR). Most often, clients of NordLEI has been encouraged by their bank to apply for an LEI, as this is a prerequisite for banks to fulfil the regulatory reporting obligation of all such applicable transactions that their clients have entered.

Since 22 September 2021, NordLEI operate as a GLEIF-accredited LOU (Local Operating Unit) that provides LEI services for the following jurisdictions:

Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Estonia, the Faroe Islands, France, Germany, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, The British Virgin Islands and The United States.

Read more about NordLEI becoming an accredited LOU here.

NordLEI also operates as an official Registration Agent with the London Stock Exchange LEI Limited (London Stock Exchange), LEI: 213800WAVVOPS85N2205 to offer LEI services for jurisdictions in the rest of the world.

Yes, as soon as an LEI application is started it is in the public domain. This is to ascertain the availability of relevant data between LOUs to minimize the risk of LEI duplication.

The global LEI registry was originally an initiative from the Financial Stability Board and the G20 countries intended to contribute to greater transparency in the financial markets as a result of the financial crisis in 2008. The LEI is used extensively to identify legal entities both for financial industry regulatory purposes and as part of best practice in industry and commercial applications.

The data is primarily validated against national company business registers. If data is not available secondary sources can be used as well as documents provided by the legal entity itself.

Local Operating Units (LOUs) supply registration, renewal and other services, and act as the primary interface for legal entities wishing to obtain an LEI. Only organizations duly accredited by the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) are authorized to issue LEIs themselves. NordLEI is the first company in Scandinavia to receive accreditation to become an LOU on the 22nd of September 2021.

Read more about LOUs on GLEIFs official website here.

A Registration Agent supply registration, renewal and other services on behalf of one or multiple issuing organizations (LOUs). The Registration Agent may choose to partner with one or more LEI issuing organizations to ensure its clients’ needs for LEI services are met.

As of 3rd January 2018 a legal entity that wishes to buy and sell (execute) financial instruments in the EU will need an LEI to become or remain a client of an EU bank or investment firm.

The legal transaction reporting that investment firms and credit institutions are obligated to perform to competent authorities (regulators) in the EU area has been widely extended. Among other things, identifying legal entities by the use of LEIs became mandatory.

For the interested reader, more information about MiFID II is available at http://www.esma.europa.eu/page/Markets-Financial-Instruments-Directive-MiFID-II.

All entities (companies, mutual funds, trusts etc.) established in the European Union must comply with the rules and practices of EMIR when entering into derivatives transactions. In regards to LEI, the most relevant section of EMIR is the Reporting Obligation.

EMIR applies both to listed and OTC derivatives.

The Reporting Obligation stipulates that both parties to a derivative contract should report such activity to a so-called Trade Repository. To make this possible the reporting party (or the party to which it delegates the reporting) must identify the party to a derivative contract using an LEI.

The Reporting Obligation of EMIR started 12 February 2014 for all counterparties to derivatives contracts. Using an LEI to uniquely identify legal entities became compulsory at the same date, which has led to this being part of normal Know-Your-Customer (KYC) routines for banks as an onboarding criterion.

For the interested reader, the EU Regulation is available in all EU official languages at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32012R0648:EN:NOT. For a detailed specification on what entities are regulated by EMIR see Article 2 (Definitions) paragraphs 7 and 8.