The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) announced that a collaboration with Open Ownership has resulted in Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs) being integrated into datasets produced in line with the Beneficial Ownership Data Standard for the first time.
Inclusion of a standardized universal identifier within beneficial ownership datasets for companies and other corporate vehicles is crucial for accurately connecting them with other information, such as company filings, licensing information, procurement disclosures, revenue reports, and sanction, watch and politically exposed persons (PEP) lists. This offers significant potential to revolutionize screening processes and enhance support for anti-money laundering (AML), counter-terrorist financing (CTF), customer due diligence and sanctions enforcements efforts globally.
To achieve the new integration, Open Ownership leveraged an existing mapping partnership between the GLEIF and OpenCorporates databases, to extend LEI mapping to its own datasets. LEIs are now embedded into Open Ownership data records where entities have both an OpenCorporates ID and an LEI.
Stephen Abbott Pugh, head of Technology at Open Ownership, said in a statement: “The lack of beneficial ownership data has been identified by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as a leading source of friction during anti-money laundering / counter-financing of terrorism checks in cross border payment processing. By building on the the crucial mapping of OpenCorporates IDs to the LEI, and including this trusted international identifier alongside OpenCorporate IDs and national identities within Open Ownership’s database, we can disambiguate entities and extend the opportunities for any data user to connect our high quality beneficial ownership data with other datasets from all over the world. This will improve the quality of available data and reduce friction when it comes to cross-border payments and contribute to a more transparent and secure financial landscape for all.”
Stephan Wolf, CEO of GLEIF, said in a statement: “This open data initiative is an important step towards addressing financial crime, which is one of the most critical issues facing the global financial system today. Publicly available, high quality and electronically accessible company data is the foundation upon which we can combat illicit finance and address hidden risks in financial markets and global supply chains, as well as the criminal use of companies, particularly as business operations become more automated. The LEI is a key data connector that enables critical data sets to be efficiently matched, and now that it links to beneficial ownership information, alongside many other datasets, its value increases greatly, particularly in the context of cross-border and instant payments. GLEIF always welcomes open data collaborations, such as this one with Open Ownership, which contribute to the creation of a data mapping and sharing network which delivers a broad public good.”
In addition to providing OpenCorporates to LEI mapping, GLEIF has also certified mapping relationships between 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).