Go-live date on ISIN LEI Initiative

London, April 4th 2019 – The Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA) and the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) announce 4^th April 2019 as the ‘go-live’ date for the new initiative to start linking International Securities Identification Numbers (ISINs) and Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs) for the global financial industry. The initiative has been created to help improve transparency of exposure by linking the legal issuing entity (Issuer) to their issuance of securities, and to also address some of the regulatory requirements under the Prospective Directive, the CSDR and SFTR.

Over the past nine months, ANNA and GLEIF have worked together on technical developments on how the new global initiative will map ISINs to their corresponding LEIs. From April, a consolidated view of ISIN-LEI links provided by National Numbering Agencies who have opted into the initiative will be provided to the GLEIF by the ANNA Service Bureau (ASB). This published ISIN-to-LEI mapping will be made freely available to all without restriction on the GLEIF website. Eleven NNAs have already opted in from the start, with many expected to follow in the coming months.

This initiative underlines ANNA’s and GLEIF’s commitment and mission to promote the use of standards, including the two ISO standards used in this initiative: ISIN (ISO 6166) and LEI (ISO 17442). By linking the two ISO standards together, firms will be able to aggregate data to gain a clear view of their securities exposure for a given issuer and its related entities.

As the registration authority for the ISIN, ANNA has been responsible for evolving and promoting the ISIN standard through its work and collaboration with members, regulators and the industry at large. As a result, ISINs are issued today in more than 200 jurisdictions worldwide, enabling efficient global cross-border trading and improved transparency.

Established in 2014 by the Financial Stability Board, the GLEIF is tasked to support the implementation and use of LEIs, to help drive forward transparency within the global financial markets. Public authorities in many jurisdictions rely on the LEI to evaluate risk, take corrective steps as well as improve the accuracy of financial data in order to minimise the risk of market abuse.

Uwe Meyer, Executive Director & Secretariat, ANNA, said, “We are delighted that GLEIF and ANNA have joined forces to provide such a high quality and useful link between two very important ISO standards. We are constantly looking for ways to bring about further harmony in the markets by promoting standardisation, and are pleased that our work with GLEIF is furthering this end. Our work with the National Numbering Agencies has made this initiative ready for launch in just a few months, which is an incredible achievement and testament to the collaboration within the industry.”

Stephan Wolf, CEO, GLEIF, said, “GLEIF has been working with ANNA on this initiative to improve transparency and efficiency by aggregating ISINS with LEIs. We are excited to see the uptake in April this year and look forward to providing a service of links so that market participants can better see their exposure by having data on the issuer and issuance of securities in one place.”

More information:

For a list of the NNA’s who have opted in please visit ANNA’s ISIN – LEI page

GLEIF’s ISIN – LEI file is available for download here

ENDS

Media contact for ANNA
Lindsay Clarke
Streets Consulting
+44 (0)20 7959 2235
lindsay.clarke@streetsconsulting.com

Media contact for GLEIF
Meral Ruesing
GLEIF Head of Communications
+49 69 9074999-0
meral.ruesing@gleif.org

About ANNA

Established in 1992 by 22 founding numbering agencies, ANNA is the membership organisation of national numbering agencies, which are operated by depositories, exchanges, government agencies, nationally central data vendors and other financial infrastructure organisations. ANNA also serves as the registration authority for the ISIN and FISN standards, under appointment by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

Under ANNA’s stewardship, the role of the ISIN in enabling global financial communications has been established worldwide. ISINs are issued today more than 200 jurisdictions worldwide. In addition, ANNA has developed the Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB), a fully automated global numbering agency to meet the operational and regulatory requirements of the over-the-counter derivatives markets. The number of national numbering agencies and nations working to establish national numbering agencies continues to grow each year, now surpassing 120 jurisdictions globally.  For information about ANNA, its members and activities, please visit anna-web.org.

About GLEIF

Established by the Financial Stability Board in June 2014, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) is tasked to support the implementation and use of the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI). The foundation is backed and overseen by the LEI Regulatory Oversight Committee, representing public authorities from around the globe that have come together to jointly drive forward transparency within the global financial markets. GLEIF is a supra-national not-for-profit organization headquartered in Basel, Switzerland.

GLEIF services ensure the operational integrity of the Global LEI System. GLEIF also makes available the technical infrastructure to provide, via an open data license, access to the full global LEI repository free of charge to users.