title: Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF)
description: The ID2020 Alliance is a global partnership maximizing the potential of digital ID to improve lives.
excerpt: >
Established by the Financial Stability Board in June 2014, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) is tasked to support the implementation and use of the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI). The foundation is backed and overseen by the LEI Regulatory Oversight Committee, representing public authorities from around the globe that have come together to jointly drive forward transparency within the global financial markets. GLEIF is a supra-national not-for-profit organization headquartered in Basel, Switzerland.
> Established by the Financial Stability Board in June 2014, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) is tasked to support the implementation and use of the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI). The foundation is backed and overseen by the LEI Regulatory Oversight Committee, representing public authorities from around the globe that have come together to jointly drive forward transparency within the global financial markets. GLEIF is a supra-national not-for-profit organization headquartered in Basel, Switzerland. - [This is GLEIF](https://www.gleif.org/en/about/this-is-gleif)
- [PSA Today: Kaliya & Seth talk LEIs](https://anchor.fm/psatoday/episodes/PSA-Today-34-Kaliya--Seth-talk-LEIs-Legal-Entity-Identifiers-with-Simon-Wood--CEO-of-Ubisecure-eqia74)with Simon Wood, CEO of Ubisecure (#1 issuer of Legal Entity Identifiers)
> the evolution of LEIs since the financial crisis of 2008, the difference between high assurance and low assurance, and the relationship between rights and ownership as it relates to identity management of entities.
- [LEIs to enable corporate digital ID with verifiable credentials](https://www.ledgerinsights.com/lei-corporate-digital-identity-verifiable-credentials-did/)
> The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) is the umbrella body that delegates responsibility for issuing LEIs to local organizations. It’s such a pressing issue that it was raised by the OECD and B20 (G20 business) just three months ago when they suggested a Global Value Chain (GVC) Passport.
- [NEWS: GLEIF and Evernym Demo ‘Organization Wallets’ to Deliver Trust and Transparency in Digital Business](https://id-bulletin.com/2020/06/04/news-gleif-and-evernym-demo-organization-wallets-to-deliver-trust-and-transparency-in-digital-business/)
> These credentials can be used to securely identify authorised representatives when they execute an increasing number of digital business activities, such as approving business transactions and contracts, including client onboarding, transacting within import/export and supply chain business networks and submitting regulatory filings and reports.
* [The LEI: A Swiss Army Knife for the World’s Digital Economy](https://www.gleif.org/en/newsroom/blog/the-lei-a-swiss-army-knife-for-the-worlds-digital-economy) 2021-06-18 GLEIF
> The LEI’s legacy is proudly rooted in financial services and regulation. Its future, however, undeniably points beyond to broader, digitized adoption and utilization across public and private sectors around the world. The Global LEI System is the only open, commercially neutral, and regulatory endorsed system capable of establishing digitized trust between all legal entities everywhere. It was established as a public good, and GLEIF remains committed to ensuring that every last drop of value is wrung from the system, and used to the benefit of all.
* [The Seven Step Process to Becoming a Validation Agent](https://www.gleif.org/en/newsroom/blog/the-seven-step-process-to-becoming-a-validation-agent): a closer look at the trial process with GLEIF’s latest eBook
> By becoming Validation Agents financial institutions can also streamline, accelerate and diversify their use of the LEI, and ensure their autonomy as they look to digitize their business processes.
* [Q1 2021 in review](https://www.gleif.org/en/newsroom/blog/q1-2021-in-review-the-lei-in-numbers)
> The LEI in Numbers: Data from the latest Global LEI System Business Report reveals LEI adoption from January to March 2021.
> In addition to extending regulatory adoption in financial services, the sector in which the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) originated, we created opportunities to boost LEI acceptance among new audiences. By identifying and creating value for new LEI registrants and users worldwide, we have been successful in showcasing how the LEI enables smarter, less costly, and more reliable business decisions. This is a key advantage during times of economic, social, and political turmoi
* [GLEIF Launches New Stakeholder Group to Accelerate the Integration of LEIs in Digital Certificates](https://infocert.digital/gleif-launches-new-stakeholder-group-to-accelerate-the-integration-of-leis-in-digital-certificates/)
> GLEIF has launched a CA Stakeholder Group to facilitate communication between GLEIF, CAs and TSPs from across the world, as they collectively aim to coordinate and encourage a global approach to LEI usage across digital identity products. Participation has already been confirmed by China Financial Certification Authority (CFCA), DigiCert Inc, InfoCert, Entrust Datacard, ICAI India, and SwissSign.
* [LEIs to enable corporate digital ID with verifiable credentials](https://www.ledgerinsights.com/lei-corporate-digital-identity-verifiable-credentials-did/)
> The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) is the umbrella body that delegates responsibility for issuing LEIs to local organizations.
>
> It’s such a pressing issue that it was raised by the OECD and B20 (G20 business) just three months ago when they suggested a [Global Value Chain (GVC) Passport](https://www.ledgerinsights.com/oecd-saudi-blockchain-business-passport-financial-compliance/).
> Following a series of 2020 research initiatives, GLEIF has invited stakeholders from across the digital economy to engage in a cross industry development program to create an ecosystem and credential governance framework, together with a technical supporting infrastructure, for a verifiable LEI (vLEI), a digitally verifiable credential containing the LEI.
- [Read full vLEI press release](https://www.gleif.org/en/newsroom/press-releases/gleif-showcases-one-digital-id-for-every-business-globally-with-first-verifiable-lei-deployment)
* [The Birth of the vLEI: A New Dawn in Digital ID for Legal Entities Everywhere](https://www.gleif.org/en/newsroom/blog/the-birth-of-the-vlei-a-new-dawn-in-digital-id-for-legal-entities-everywhere)GLIEF
> Using KERI, vLEIs can be created and utilized independently of any specific organization, with the highest levels of security, privacy, and ease of use. KERI also enables GLEIF and the vLEI trust ecosystem to operate under GLEIF’s governance framework, unencumbered by the governance of external systems, including those of blockchains and distributed ledger consortia.
* [InfoCert adheres to the GLEIF International Foundation's program for promoting vLEI](https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://www.datamanager.it/2020/12/infocert-aderisce-al-programma-della-fondazione-internazionale-gleif-per-la-promozione-del-vlei/)
> The vLEI is a cryptographically verifiable credential according to W3C standards and containing the LEI ( Legal Entity Identifiers ), the identification code of legal entities made mandatory by Mifid II in order to operate on the financial markets: InfoCert, formerly LOU ( Local Operating Unit ) authorized by GLEIF will adopt vLEI as an identification standard within its DIZME ecosystem , the blockchain-based decentralized digital identity platform.
* [Legal Entity Identifier News from Q1](https://managedlei.com/blog/legal-entity-identifier-news-from-q1/)
> Taking the LEI one step further from entity identification to individuals is a huge development for the digital identity industry and one that has been supported [by our partners at RapidLEI](https://rapidlei.com/vlei/). We wrote a full blog on the story to [explain why vLEIs are important](https://managedlei.com/blog/what-is-vlei-and-what-problems-does-it-solve/)and how we expect they can add value to the industry with some solid examples such as mobile driving licenses and healthcare service delivery.
* [eBook: ‘The vLEI: Introducing Digital I.D. for Legal Entities Everywhere](https://www.gleif.org/en/lei-solutions/gleifs-digital-strategy-for-the-lei/introducing-the-verifiable-lei-vlei/gleif-ebook-the-vlei-introducing-digital-i-d-for-legal-entities-everywhere)
* [Self-sovereign digital identity, vLEI as identification standard for InfoCert DIZME network](https://www.digitalfuturemagazine.com/2021/01/27/self-sovereign-digital-identity-vlei-as-identification-standard-for-infocert-dizme-network/)
> Through vLEIs, companies, government organizations, and other legal entities around the world will have the ability to identify themselves unambiguously, even outside of the financial markets, to conduct a growing number of activities digitally, such as:
> - transactions within logistics chain and import/export networks,
> - the submission of reports and prospectuses to regulatory bodies.
> Also, vLEIs will allow for the extension of identity verification of legal entities to include individuals who fill roles of interest within those entities.
* [Digital Identity: It’s All About Authenticity](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR0J-Vuxnuc)video from GLEIF
> Through the creation of the verifiable Legal Entity Identifier (vLEI), GLEIF has created a universal system of organizational identity that answers this need. The vLEI enables instant and automated business verification for all legal entities and their official representatives
* [Ubisecure announces support for Organisation Verifiable Credentials – the Global LEI Foundation verifiable LEI](https://www.ubisecure.com/news-events/organisation-verifiable-credentials-gleif-vlei/)
> - The verifiable LEI (vLEI) is an organisation-based Verifiable Credential that asserts trusted organisation identity and the roles of authorised representatives and employees.
> - Ubisecure and its partner network will issue vLEIs. Pre-registration for Pilot Programme opened.
> - Ubisecure Identity-as-a-Service and Customer IAM solutions will support vLEI adoption to help manage employee rights through its Representation Governance capabilities.
> - “vLEI brings the LEI to a wider audience” says Ubisecure.
> The new service based on a digitally verifiable credential containing the LEI. Based on self-sovereign identity (SSI), the vLEI enables automated trusted identity verification between counterparties.
- [GLEIF Advances Digital Trust and Identity for Legal Entities Globally](https://www.gleif.org/en/newsroom/press-releases/gleif-advances-digital-trust-and-identity-for-legal-entities-globally)
> Drummond Reed, Steering Committee Member, Trust-over-IP-Foundation, comments: “The vLEI has the potential to become one of the most valuable digital credentials in the world because it is the hallmark of authenticity for a legal entity of any kind. The family of digital credentials in the GLEIF vLEI Governance Framework can serve as a chain of trust for anyone needing to verify the legal identity of an organization or of a person legally acting on that organization’s behalf. The demand this will create for LEIs — and the impact it will have on adoption of self-sovereign identity — cannot be overestimated. It will be a sea change for digital trust infrastructure that will benefit every country, company, and citizen in the world.”
- [Introducing the Verifiable LEI (vLEI)](https://www.gleif.org/en/lei-solutions/gleifs-digital-strategy-for-the-lei/introducing-the-verifiable-lei-vlei)
> The vLEI infrastructure will be a network-of-networks of true universality and portability, developed using the KERI (Key Event Receipt Infrastructure) protocol. It will support the full range of blockchain, self-sovereign identity and other decentralized key management platforms. vLEIs will be hostable on both ledgers and cloud infrastructure supporting both the decentralization of ledgers plus the control and performance of cloud. Portability will enable GLEIF’s vLEI ecosystem to unify all ledger-based ecosystems that support the vLEI.
* [The Missing Ingredient for Globally Compatible ESG Data Collation and Reporting? Standardized Digital Entity Identification](https://www.gleif.org/en/newsroom/blog/the-missing-ingredient-for-globally-compatible-esg-data-collation-and-reporting-standardized-digital-entity-identification)GLEIF
> [Research](https://www.gleif.org/en/lei-solutions/regulatory-use-of-the-lei/gleif-and-data-foundation-comprehensive-entity-id-for-u-s-federal-government)conducted by GLEIF and the Data Foundation, indicates that the U.S. federal government alone uses 50 distinct and incompatible entity identification systems. When this fragmentation is amplified, taking into account the volume of different identifiers globally, it is easy to understand the challenges.
* [The Internet of Trade - A vision: Building the nervous system of the world economy](https://www.gleif.org/en/newsroom/blog/the-internet-of-trade)GLEIF
> Many areas of production and trade have been digitized, but in the absence of a universal approach to digital networking, siloed systems have been implemented, creating countless ‘digital islands’. Data is still transferred between the participants’ computer systems on printed documents or as unstructured PDFs.
* [\#4 in the LEI Lightbulb Blog Series - Soaring Regulatory Confidence puts LEI at Center of Trust in Payments Ecosystem](https://www.gleif.org/en/newsroom/blog/in-the-lei-lightbulb-blog-series-soaring-regulatory-confidence-puts-lei-at-center-of-trust-in-payments-ecosystem)GLEIF
> We do not have to look back further than the global economic collapse of 2008 to fully understand the worst-case scenario of unverified legal entities engaging in financial transactions. The LEI was created at the request of the G20 and Financial Stability Board (FSB) in response to this global catastrophe.
* [The Value of Transparency in Digital Trade Finance, with Aaron Seabrook, COO, Contour](http://gleif.org/en/newsroom/blog/the-value-of-transparency-in-digital-trade-finance-with-aaron-seabrook-coo-contour)GLEIF
> In November 2021, GLEIF partnered with Contour, a global network of banks, corporates and trade partners working together to revolutionize the trade finance industry by removing barriers to entry. The partnership enables the use of Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs) within Contour’s platform and puts digital identity at the heart of its proposition.
* [Yann Desclercs from Cornerstone Advisory Plus speaks about countering the de-risking trend in African economies with the LEI](https://www.gleif.org/en/newsroom/blog/number-1-in-the-financial-inclusion-interview-series-yann-desclercs-from-cornerstone-advisory-plus-speaks-about-countering-the-de-risking-trend-in-african-economies-with-the-lei)
> Following the launch of GLEIF’s digital business identity initiative designed to bridge the trade finance gap in Africa, we’re catching up with our key partners to hear their thoughts on how the project will bring about greater financial inclusion for SMEs on the continent and beyond.
* [#5 in the Financial Inclusion Interview Series – Concluding Remarks from GLEIF CEO, Stephan Wolf](https://www.gleif.org/en/newsroom/blog/number-5-in-the-financial-inclusion-interview-series-concluding-remarks-from-gleif-ceo-stephan-wolf)
> Throughout the financial inclusion interview series, we caught up with key partners to discuss the launch of GLEIF’s digital business identity initiative in Africa and how it is bringing about greater financial inclusion for African SMEs. Stephan Wolf, CEO of GLEIF, concludes the series by accentuating the immeasurable opportunities and transparency this initiative will bring to the global supply chain
* [#2 in the Financial Inclusion Interview Series – What bridging the $81bn trade finance gap could mean for Africa with Barry Cooper from Centre for Financial Regulation and Inclusion (Cenfri)](https://www.gleif.org/en/newsroom/blog/number-2-in-the-financial-inclusion-interview-series-what-bridging-the-81bn-trade-finance-gap-could-mean-for-africa-with-barry-cooper-from-centre-for-financial-regulation-and-inclusion-cenfri)
> Following the launch of GLEIF’s digital business identity initiative designed to bridge the trade finance gap in Africa, we’re catching up with our key partners to hear their thoughts on how the project will bring about greater financial inclusion for SMEs on the continent and beyond.
* [How LEI datasets can enhance global sustainability initiatives and climate-aligned finance](https://www.gleif.org/en/newsroom/blog/how-lei-datasets-can-enhance-global-sustainability-initiatives-and-climate-aligned-finance)GLEIF
> During COP26, GLEIF announced a partnership with Amazon and OS-Climate to add LEI datasets to Amazon’s Sustainability Data Initiative (ASDI) open-data catalog. [...]. We have since caught up with Ana Pinheiro Privette, Global Lead for ASDI, to discuss how the partnership is working to improve global sustainability data modelling, mapping and calculations, and the expected impact on climate finance risk and opportunity evaluations.
* [GLEIF and uPort Test Verified Data Exchange in Financial Transactions](https://consensys.net/blog/press-release/gleif-uport-test-verified-data-exchange-in-financial-and-commercial-transactions/) - The Ethereum-enabled identity solution is used for permissioned issuance and verification of digitally verifiable credentials using LEIs.
> The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) and uPort, ConsenSys’ digital identity platform anchored on the Ethereum blockchain, have partnered to support the process of exchanging verified data used in financial, commercial, and regulatory transactions. GLEIF is the G20-backed non-profit foundation tasked with promoting the use of legal entity identifiers (LEIs) as the global standard to unambiguously identify parties doing business. Together with uPort, GLEIF is testing how businesses can leverage the Ethereum-backed identity system to increase the efficiency of verifying business identities and persons acting on its behalf within the LEI ecosystem.
