LEI Lookup: How to Find and Verify a Legal Entity Identifier
An LEI is the closest thing to a global ID number for a company. A lookup in the free GLEIF database tells you which legal entity you are dealing with, where it is registered and whether its record is current.
Updated October 28, 2026.
What an LEI Is
A Legal Entity Identifier is a 20-character alphanumeric code under the ISO 17442 standard. Each code points to one legal entity. LEIs are issued by accredited organizations and collected in a single public database run by the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF), which anyone can search for free.
LEIs are common in financial reporting, derivatives and securities transactions, and cross-border payments. Many large foreign payees have both an LEI and, if they're a financial institution, a FATCA GIIN.
Key takeaways
- An LEI identifies one legal entity, not a brand, a group or a DBA, so match the legal name and country to your records.
- The last two characters are check digits, which means a typo can be caught before you search.
- LEIs are renewed every year; a lapsed record is still a real LEI, but its data has not been reconfirmed.
- Retired, merged and annulled statuses mean the entity in front of you is not the entity in the record.
- Parent data in the record feeds sanctions screening under OFAC's 50 percent rule.
How an LEI Is Built
The 20 characters are not random. Knowing the layout helps you spot a transcription error before you run the search.
| Characters | What they are |
|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | Prefix of the Local Operating Unit (LOU), the accredited issuer that assigned the LEI |
| 5 to 6 | Reserved, currently always 00 |
| 7 to 18 | Entity-specific part assigned by the issuer |
| 19 to 20 | Check digits calculated under ISO 7064 (MOD 97-10) |
Because of the check digits, a validator can reject a mistyped LEI without a database call. A code that passes the checksum but returns no GLEIF record is the next thing to investigate: it may belong to a different issuer's range, or it may have been annulled.
Who Needs One
LEIs started with derivatives reporting after the 2008 financial crisis and spread from there. You will meet them in:
- Derivatives and securities reporting, where regulators in the U.S., the EU and the UK require counterparties to be identified by LEI
- Bank onboarding and KYC, where a lapsed or missing LEI is a common cause of friction for corporate clients
- Cross-border payments, where ISO 20022 payment messages carry a field for the LEI of the debtor and creditor
- FATCA and CRS documentation, where a foreign financial institution usually has both an LEI and a GIIN
For a U.S. payer, the practical use is narrower: an LEI on a W-8BEN-E, a contract or an invoice is a free way to confirm which foreign legal entity you are dealing with and where it is registered.
What the Record Tells You
An LEI lookup returns the entity's reference data, including:
- Legal name and any other names
- Legal and headquarters addresses
- Jurisdiction and registration authority, with the entity's local registration number
- Entity status (active or inactive)
- Registration status of the LEI itself, such as issued or lapsed
- Relationship data, where reported: the direct and ultimate parent
The registration status is the field most people skim past, and it carries the most information about whether you can rely on the rest of the record.
| Registration status | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Issued | Current; the entity confirmed its data within the last year | Proceed |
| Lapsed | Not renewed by its renewal date; the data has not been reconfirmed | Confirm name and address another way; ask the entity to renew |
| Pending transfer | Moving from one issuer to another | Recheck once the transfer completes |
| Retired | The entity ceased to exist, for example through liquidation | Stop; find out who the successor is |
| Merged | The entity was absorbed into another; the record names the successor LEI | Follow the successor LEI and verify that entity |
| Annulled | Issued in error or found to be invalid | Treat as no LEI |
| Duplicate | The entity held more than one LEI; this one was retired in favor of another | Use the surviving LEI |
What to Check
A lookup that merely finds the code is not verification. Compare the record with the party in front of you.
| Question | Where to look in the record | A problem looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Does the LEI belong to this entity? | Legal name, other names, legal address | Similar name in the same group, different jurisdiction |
| Is the record current? | Registration status, next renewal date | Lapsed for more than a few months |
| Is the entity active? | Entity status | Inactive, retired or merged |
| Who is the parent? | Direct and ultimate parent, or the reason none is reported | A parent in a sanctioned jurisdiction, or no parent reported for an obvious subsidiary |
| Does the registration number agree? | Registration authority and local registration number | A number that does not appear in the home-country register |
A short example. A foreign supplier's W-8BEN-E names "Nordhaven Trading Ltd" with an Irish address and an LEI. The GLEIF record for that LEI returns "Nordhaven Trading Holdings Ltd", a Cyprus legal address and a lapsed status. Nothing here proves fraud, but it does prove you have not confirmed the entity: the name is a sibling or parent, the country disagrees with the form, and the data was never reconfirmed. The right response is a corrected form and a second source for the registration, not a note that "the LEI checked out".
Parent relationships are also the fastest route into an ownership question. If the ultimate parent in the record is a listed party, or sits in a jurisdiction under country-wide sanctions, the entity needs a closer look under OFAC's 50 percent rule, which treats an entity owned 50 percent or more by blocked persons as blocked itself.
LEI vs. GIIN vs. EIN
| LEI | GIIN | EIN | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Issued by | Accredited LEI issuers, via GLEIF | IRS | IRS |
| Who has one | Legal entities worldwide that request one | FATCA-registered financial institutions and some other entities | U.S. businesses and other entities |
| Format | 20 characters | 19 characters | 9 digits |
| Public lookup | GLEIF database | IRS FFI list | No public IRS lookup |
| Common use | Financial reporting, counterparties | Form W-8BEN-E, FATCA | Form W-9, 1099 reporting |
See GIIN Lookup: How to Verify a GIIN on Form W-8BEN-E for the FATCA side.
How TIN Comply Helps
TIN Comply's FATCA & LEI Validation checks LEIs against GLEIF and GIINs against the IRS FFI list, alongside Sanctions & OFAC Screening for foreign counterparties. It runs one at a time in the portal, in bulk, or through the API, with every result logged and included with every plan.
Start a free trial and verify the identifiers on your foreign counterparties.
Bottom Line
An LEI lookup confirms which legal entity you're dealing with. Match the name and country to your records, check that the LEI hasn't lapsed and the entity is active, and use the parent data for ownership questions.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or tax advice.