LEI lookup
Search the official GLEIF database by Legal Entity Identifier or company name.
Official GLEIF data, proxied through our server. Searches are not stored. Public reference data — verify against the source before relying on it for onboarding or trading.
How to look up a LEI
- Enter a LEI or name. Type a 20-character LEI, or a company name to search.
- Look up. We validate the LEI locally, then fetch the record from GLEIF.
- Review the entity. See the legal name, jurisdiction, address, registration status and parents.
What a LEI is — and its 20 characters
A Legal Entity Identifier is a 20-character code, standardised as ISO 17442, that uniquely and permanently names one legally distinct entity — a company, fund, trust or public body — in financial markets. Its shape is fixed: a 4-character prefix identifying the issuing organisation (a Local Operating Unit), two reserved zeros, twelve entity-specific characters, and two check digits computed with the ISO 7064 MOD 97-10 scheme. That checksum lets this tool confirm a LEI is well-formed in your browser before it ever calls the database, catching a mistyped character instantly. Unlike a national tax ID, a LEI is global and issuer-neutral: the same code identifies the entity in every country and market.
Why it exists, and what the record holds
The LEI was created after the 2008 financial crisis, when regulators found they couldn't reliably tell which legal entities were exposed to a failing counterparty. Now rules such as MiFID II, EMIR and Dodd-Frank make it effectively mandatory for trading — the industry shorthand is "no LEI, no trade." The public record comes in two layers: Level 1 answers "who is who" — the entity's legal name, jurisdiction, registered and headquarters address, and the registration status and annual-renewal date maintained under the Global LEI System. Level 2 answers "who owns whom" — direct and ultimate corporate parents, where the entity has reported them (many report an exception instead, so parent data is present less often than Level 1). This tool surfaces both when available.
Free, official, and how it fits the others
LEI reference data is open and free: it comes straight from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation that oversees the system, not a paid aggregator — this tool queries it live (proxied through our server, never stored). A LEI identifies an entity in global finance; for a US business's federal tax identity, the EIN lookup covers that, the NAICS code lookup classifies its industry, and for the bank behind a payment the SWIFT/BIC lookup decodes that code. Together they cover the identifiers you meet doing due diligence on a company.
Frequently asked questions
- A Legal Entity Identifier is a 20-character code (ISO 17442) that uniquely identifies a legally distinct entity taking part in financial transactions. It is issued under the Global LEI System overseen by GLEIF, and its reference data is public and free.
- From GLEIF — the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation — the official public source, queried in real time. It is free, open reference data, not a paid database.
- Yes. Enter a 20-character LEI for an exact record, or a company name to search for matching entities and their LEIs.
- Regulations after the 2008 financial crisis (MiFID II, EMIR, Dodd-Frank and others) require a LEI to trade many financial instruments — "no LEI, no trade." Banks, funds, listed companies and their subsidiaries all carry one.
- Each LEI record is maintained and must be renewed annually. Status ISSUED and LAPSED describe the registration; an entity whose LEI has lapsed still exists but has not renewed its record. The entity status (ACTIVE/INACTIVE) is separate.
- No. Format validation runs in your browser; the record is fetched from GLEIF through our server and returned to you. Nothing is saved.