A Legal Entity Identifier (“LEI”) is a unique 20-character alphanumeric code that is assigned to legal entities. Based on the ISO 17442 standard, the LEI connects key reference information that enables clear and unique identification of legal entities and provides information about an entity’s ownership structure and thus answers the questions of 'who is who’ and ‘who owns whom’.
Once issued, the LEI number can be used to represent the entity in financial transaction reporting or organisation identity assurance use cases.