The board of the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) met last week to discuss the master agreement that will define legal relationships between Local Operating Units (LOUs) and the foundation, governance of the foundation, and funding. It also touched on the technology requirements of the Central Operating Unit (COU) of the Global LEI System (GLEIS), but has yet to decide whether to operate or outsource the central LEI database that will be at the heart of the system.
Gerard Hartsink, chair of the GLEIF, says: “Before we can select and source technology, we need to clarify exactly what we want to create. The concept of Local Operating Units (LOUs) providing local data to a central database is simple, but should the data and any changes to it be available in real time to any user, or should the data be updated, say, every five minutes or every half an hour? Similarly, should it be possible to download the full database in, say, five seconds? We must consider the impact of these kinds of issues on LOUs and the operational arm of the federation before making any decisions.”
While technology is fundamental to the GLEIS, Hartsink notes that the migration of LOUs from the interim GLEIS to the complete system and the creation of a legal master agreement are equally important.
The board meeting agreed that the funding model for the GLEIF – detailed in July 2014 and requiring LOUs to pay $20 a year for each LEI they issue as well as a member credit fee of $10 per LEI to supplement initial operations of the foundation – is working well and will support the payment of staff needed to run the COU. Staff are expected to be hired after Interactive Data executive Stephan Wolf, who was appointed CEO of the GLEIF in July 2014, steps into the role late this month or early next month. In a similar timeframe, the GLEIF plans to open a website dedicated to practical issues involved in the GLEIS and documenting agendas and minutes of its board meetings.
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