The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) has linked LEIs to corresponding records in the OpenCorporates global database of legal entity data, one of the largest open databases of companies in the world. With LEIs natively available in the OpenCorporates database, cross-referencing between the datasets will facilitate a range of compliance, surveillance, and due diligence monitoring processes.
Benefits of the collaboration, which builds on existing work between the partners, include extended information about businesses, as the LEI data answers the question of ‘who owns who’, including verified parent and subsidiary relationships, while the OpenCorporates database of corporate registry records contains foundational company information, such as current status, named directors, and industry codes.
The addition of the LEI to the identifiers held in the OpenCorporates database, alongside the addition of OpenCorporates to a growing number of other identifiers already mapped to the LEI, is expected to streamline entity reconciliation processes and reduce data management costs. Understanding a group’s corporate structure from verified LEI data, together with access to a richer linked dataset, supports risk requirements, such as counterparty exposure. The collaboration also makes way for easier integration of wider datasets that already use either OpenCorporates or LEI identifiers.
“GLEIF and OpenCorporates share a common purpose to create a fairer, more prosperous, and sustainable society by improving corporate transparency with trusted legal entity information,” says Chris Taggart, CEO at OpenCorporates. “With more detailed information available to anyone who requires it, global organisations will be better equipped to tackle corruption and criminality and create a more trusted business environment.”
Stephan Wolf, CEO at GLEIF, says: “The LEI is the linchpin that connects the dots across a universe of entity identification. To play this role, interoperability with parallel identity platforms is crucial. Connecting with the OpenCorporates database helps ensure that high quality reference data is quickly and easily available to all.”
GLEIF will publish open source relationship files bi-weekly, in a CSV format, which will map LEIs to corresponding records in the OpenCorporates database. Mapped data will also be incorporated into the LEI Search and GLEIF API at a later stage. More than 50% of the global LEI population is now linked to the OpenCorporates database, given that not all legal entities with LEIs are officially registered.
OpenCorporates to LEI identity mapping follows previous relationships made by GLEIF and including mapping to S&P Global’s Company ID, SWIFT’s Market Identifier Code (MIC) and Business Identifier Code (BIC), and the Association of National Numbering Agencies’ (ANNA) International Securities Identification Numbers (ISIN).
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