Background Information

There are currently almost 1.7 million Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs) in existence today. The United States has maintained the lions share of LEIs for the last ten years. There are roughly 220,00 LEIs registered in the USA, accounting for 13.2% of LEIs globally.

Since the last Global Financial Crisis in 2008, the Legal Entity Identifier has become an omnipresent feature of regulatory compliance within the global financial system. This is because there are innumerable benefits to having a single, global identifier for all legal entities which principally is stored on a public database of trusted, reliable and up to date data.

The United States and UK have been the primary drivers of the LEI globally, however the EU countries also have advanced regulatory frameworks and are proportionally represented in Fig 1.1. 

Fig 1.1 - Global Distribution of LEIs globally (GLEIF source)

The LEI is a G20 endorsed, globally verifiable unique identity code. The LEI code contains a record with information about a company such as its identity and group structure. The LEI system provides one centralized source of information, that contains vast amounts of attainable, high quality data

The large volume of LEIs in the US is also not solely due to the fact that United States is home to the worlds largest economy and financial markets. But it is the fact that the LEI is highly regulated in America. Like Europe, the USA relies heavily on the LEI system to deliver transparency and manage risk exposure within their financial system. 
 
Also similar to Europe, the USA has a litany of regulatory requirements where parties to a securities transaction or participants within a certain industry are required to identify themselves by way of a Legal Entity Identifier.

For example,The CEA (Commodity Exchange Act, 2012) includes the LEI in reports since 2012. The CEA and SEC are the biggest drivers of LEI regulation. But the Dodd-Frank Act also heavily requires LEI to be reported for certain transactions, along with The CFCT, NAIC, FED & Investment Advisors Act (IAA).
 
Most recently, being introduced in 2020 in the US is the FERC (Federal Energy regulatory Commission) and Form BE-10A which will both require the LEI for data collection and transparency purposes. 

Below, you will find a list of requirements and regulations specific to the USA which mandate or request the use of an LEI. Please note, that the use of the LEI in America is not limited to this list. There are regulations existing in Europe and globally that may also require USA entities to comply by way of having an LEI.

CLICK HERE TO download A FULL LIST OF USA LEI REQUIREMENTS

CLICK HERE TO download a FULL LIST OF GLOBAL LEI REQUIREMENTS (USA INCLUDED)

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List of rules & mandates requiring an LEI - United States of America

1. The Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ​

The Commodity Exchange Act originally introduced in the 1930s, primarily regulates the sale and purchase of commodity futures in the US. New regulations are established by the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission). The CEA was updated following the 2008 crash to include LEIs in the following areas:

- CFTC Form TO
- CFTC Form 102 Identification of "Special Accounts"
- Ownership and Control Reports, Forms 102/102S, 40/40S, and 71; Final Rule
- CFR Parts 3, 32, and 33 Commodity Options
- Amendments to Swap Data Record keeping and Reporting Requirements for Cleared Swaps
- Proposed Amendments to the Swap Data Access Provisions of Part 49 ​

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2. Investment Advisors Act

Investment Advisors Act was founded in 1940 in order to standardise and monitor the activities of investment advisors. Administered by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) it is the principal regulatory reporting requirement for independent investment advisors. When reporting to the SEC in the following areas an LEI Code should be included to identify parties:

- Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 17 CFR Parts 275 and 279 Rules Implementing Amendments to the Investment Advisers Act of 1940
- SEC Form ADV
- Form PF Reporting Form for Investment Advisers to Private Funds  ​

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3. The Federal Reserve

The central bank of the United States is the Federal Reserve. Founded in 1913 by the US Congress in an effort to create a more stable monetary system. The Federal Reserve have reporting requirements for market participants and an LEI must be included in the following reports:

- Annual Report of Holding Companies (FR Y-6)
- Annual Report of Foreign Banking Organizations - FR Y-7
- Annual Report of Changes in Organizational Structure – FR Y-10
- Announcement of Board Approval Under Delegated Authority and Submission to OMB ​

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4. Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB)

The MSRB is tasked with regulating the securities markets in the US. The MSRB introduces legislation to protect buyers and sellers within the securities markets and bring about a standardised reporting system. The following MSRB reporting requirement requests the inclusion of a legal entity identifier:

- Registration MSRB Form A-12 ​

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5. National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)

The NAIC is the United States regulatory support organisation for Insurance Commissioners. Their role is to establish best practices, guidelines and regulatory requirements in the insurance industry. The NAIC acts as a forum for the development of industry standards. The quarterly and annual NAIC statements require the inclusion of LEI codes:

- NAIC Annual Statement
- Quarterly Statement  ​

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6. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

The United States Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) is a government regulatory agency who's role is to provide legislation which protects the rights of investors and maintain standardisation within the US securities markets, similar to ESMA in Europe. Their primary objective is to maintain efficient and transparent running of the capital markets and through the use of Legal Entity Identifiers reporting parties and counter-parties are required to identify themselves on the following reports:

- 17 CFR Part 242 Consolidated Audit Trail; Final Rule
- NSRO Filings (Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization)
- (FORM N-MFP) Monthly Schedule Of Portfolio Holdings Of Money Market Funds

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7. Securities Exchange Act (SEA)

The Act that was responsible for founding the SEC, the Securities Exchange Act is a regulation implemented to fulfill its role of maintaining the secondary market. The SEA governs the secondary selling, trading, swapping and repossesion of securities (stocks, bonds and debentures) in America. The following rules include the use of an LEI:

- Reporting and Disclosure Dissemination of Security-Based Swap Information (SBSR)
- Department of the Treasury 12 CFR Part 43
- Federal Reserve System 12 CFR Part 244
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation 12
- CFR Part 373, Federal Housing Finance Agency 12 CFR Part 1234
- Securities and Exchange Commission 17 CFR Part 246
- Department of Housing and Urban Development
- Development 24 CFR Part 267 
- Credit Risk Retention; Rule
- Proposed Rule Change Relating to Adopt the FINRA Rule 6800 Series (Consolidated Audit Trail Compliance Rule) ​

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8. Investment Company Act

The Investment Company Act was founded by US Congress in 1940 following the stock market crash of 1929. The act sets the standards for the significantly large US investment company industry. The SEC also provide oversight and enforce the act, which is the primary legislation regulating investment firms and their offering of investment products. The following regulatory forms and sections require an LEI to be included:

- Form N-MFP
- Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 17 CFR Parts 200, 210, 232, 239, 240, 249, 270, 274  ​

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9. The Dodd-Frank Act 

The Dodd-Frank Act, also known as the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is a very large and complex bill comprising of hundreds of pages. The bill was born out of the 2008 global financial crisis and came into force in 2010. The law regulates the lending of money and aims to protect consumers in a bid to prevent an economic disaster similar to 2008. The LEI was included in the Acts creation of the Office of Financial Research in an effort make make more reliable data on the financial system available to regulators, particularly in the below areas:

- Department of the Treasury 31 CFR
- Part 148 RIN 1505–AC46
- Reporting Forms - FFIEC 016
- Annual Dodd-Frank Act Company-Run Stress Test Report for Depository Institutions and Holding Companies (with $10-$50 Billion in Total Consolidated Assets)
- Department of the Treasury 12 CFR Part 1610 

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10. Home Mortgage Disclosure Act ​(HMDA)

​HMDA is a law that stipulates particular data is made available by financial institutions to the public. This data is a large source of publicly available information in the United States. This allows consumers to have visibility in the mortgage process ultimately protecting all parties involved.
The LEI is now integrated in to Regulation C below. The financial institution must identify itself by its LEI instead of the HDME RID when submitting HDMA data. 

- HMDA Regulation C

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11. Federal Power Act (FPA)

The Federal Power Act was introduced to more effectively regulate and standardise the development of hydroelectric projects in the US. The Act is responsible for creating the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ​and the below notice requires an LEI to be reported:

- 18 CFR Part 35 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ​

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12. Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act ("FAST Act")

The FAST Act governs US funding and expenditure in relation to federal surface transportation. This includes the upgrading of the US highway system and public transportation systems. The SEC filings related below require the use of an LEI:

- Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 17 CFR Parts 229, 230, 232, 239, 240, 249, 270, 274 and 275
- RIN 3235-AM02 FAST Act Modernization and Simplifcation of Regulation S-K ​

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13. Recordkeeping Requirements for Qualified Financial Contracts (QFC)

The FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) regulated insured depository institutions who may be in troubled conditions to maintain records of qualified financial contracts (“QFCs”) in which they are involved. Part 371 of the below filing requirement requests an LEI:

- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) 12 CFR Part 371  ​

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14. Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) 

The FFIEC (Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council) is composed of five banking regulators who regulate and oversee the supervision of financial institutions. They request regular reports and updates and the below filings require the mandatory inclusion of LEI codes. 

- Quarterly Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income
​- Reporting Forms - FFIEC 03 and 041
- Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income for a Bank with Domestic and Foreign Offices

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15. Federal Energy regulatory Commission (FERC)

The FERC regulates the transmission of wholesale electricity and natural gas in the US. By law, all Regionsal Transmission Organizations and Independent System Operators are required to provide an LEI as regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The below forms must include an LEI:

- Docket No. RM16-17-000 18 CFR Part 35
- Data Collection for Analytics and Surveillance and Market-Based Rate Purposes ​

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16. Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA®)

The EMMA is funded and operated by the MSRB in number 4 of this list. EMMA is data source which provides free public information and access to municipal markets data. EMMA facilitates transparency in the markets and is an arm of the SEC, who require an LEI in the Form G-32 below.

- Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Amended Form G-32 ​

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17. The US Commerce Department

Every 5 years the US Commerce Department collects BE-180 filings. This BE-180 Form is a benchmark survey that collects data on transactions between U.S. financial service providers and non-U.S entities. This year, respondents of the 2020 BE-180 will now be required to include their LEI numbers in a bid to streamline the identification process.

- BE-180 Filing Requirement

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18. The Financial Transparency Act

The Financial Transparency Act was introduced in 2019 as the first US 'RegTech' law. This law aims to consolidate a fragmented regulatory framework by standardising the processes of eight major American regulatory authorities. One of the primary facets of the FTA is that it aims to make the data more public and accessible and without licensing restrictions. 

The FTA mandates the use of the LEI in all financial reporting practices. Previously, there were over 50 identity numbers in the US, primarily the EIN (Employer Identification Number). By adopting the LEI as a common identifier across all bodies, it will bring greater transparency to the market as a whole.

- H.R.4476 - Financial Transparency Act of 2019

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If you require an LEI, or would like to find out more about LEIs in the United States, please click the button below or begin your application:

How to get an LEI in the USA

LEI APPLICATION FORM

The information on this page was procured from the GLEIF regulatory use of the LEI page.