Apply For LEI

Do You Need an LEI Number?
Find Out Here

Find out in two minutes whether your organisation must hold an LEI number to trade, report or open bank accounts.

The one-minute answer

If your UK business trades listed shares, bonds, ETFs, FX forwards, interest-rate swaps or engages in repo/securities lending, you need an Issued LEI number. If you don’t trade – but plan to open a custody or clearing account—banks will likely request an LEI anyway.

Full eligibility checklist

  • UK-incorporated companies trading on-exchange or OTC
  • Investment funds (UCITS, AIFs, pensions)
  • Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) issuing notes
  • Trusts or charities issuing listed debt
  • Local authorities accessing capital markets
  •  Banks, brokers and CCPs (already mandated)
  • Sole traders without a corporate vehicle
  • Unincorporated community groups

The one-minute answer

If your UK business trades listed shares, bonds, ETFs, FX forwards, interest-rate swaps or engages in repo/securities lending, you need an Issued LEI number. If you don’t trade – but plan to open a custody or clearing account—banks will likely request an LEI anyway.

Full eligibility checklist

  • UK-incorporated companies trading on-exchange or OTC
  • Investment funds (UCITS, AIFs, pensions)
  • Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) issuing notes
  • Trusts or charities issuing listed debt
  • Local authorities accessing capital markets
  •  Banks, brokers and CCPs (already mandated)
  • Sole traders without a corporate vehicle
  • Unincorporated community groups

Documents & data you’ll need

Regulation Instruments covered Entity types Enforcement date
MiFID II Art 26 Shares, bonds, ETFs Investment firms & clients Jan 2018
EMIR & EMIR-REFIT OTC & ETD derivatives Financial & NFC entities Jun 2014 / Jun 2020
SFTR (EU & UK) Repos, securities lending Borrower & lender Jul 2020
CSDR Settlement fails reporting CSD participants Feb 2022
Dodd-Frank (US) Swaps US counterparties Apr 2013

Decision flowchart

Sector deep-dive

Investment
funds

UCITS and AIFs must maintain Issued LEIs for all fund compartments. FCA Handbook COLL 6.9 cites LEIs in risk disclosures.

SMEs trading derivatives

Any LTD entering an FX forward exceeding seven days qualifies as a derivative counterparty under EMIR and therefore needs an LEI.

Local
authorities

Council treasurers using repo lines with UK banks must maintain active LEIs per SFTR-UK.

Benefits of voluntary adoption

  • Faster banking: HSBC and Barclays KYC portals auto-pull GLEIF data.
  • Vendor credibility: suppliers see a global ID, not just a UK CRN.
  • ESG & transparency: investors score higher on openness metrics.
  • Future-proofing: ready for vLEI digital-ID roll-outs

Next steps: register, renew, update

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First-time registration
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Renew or update data
Renew / update LEI
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Frequently asked questions

Around 191 000 as of Q2 2025 (GLEIF statistics).

Only if it trades reportable instruments, but UK fund LPs usually do.

Yes. Each legal entity requires its own LEI; group LEIs don’t cascade.

Encourage voluntary registration; banks increasingly ask suppliers for LEIs in trade-finance deals.

No. Regulations specify Issued status; lapsed codes are rejected.

Not yet under UK law, but MiCA in the EU may reference LEIs for crypto-asset service providers.