Solutions Featuring the LEI

LEI in Cross-Border Payments


The LEI enables cross-border payment transactions to become faster, cheaper, more transparent, and more inclusive. 

*Use cases are based on the Payment Market Practice Group White Paper: Global Adoption of the LEI in ISO20022 Payment Messages – 2021

When the LEI is added as a data attribute in payment messages, any originator or beneficiary legal entity can be precisely, instantly, and automatically identified across borders. As payment market infrastructures across the world move to support instant payments, the ability to verify and validate the originator and beneficiary of a transaction in near real-time is a foundational requirement in order to enable consumers, businesses, and financial institutions to verify that funds are transferred across international borders to the correct entity.
 
The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has endorsed the LEI for supporting the goals of its G20-endorsed Roadmap for Enhancing Cross-Border Payments. As part of this initiative, and in collaboration with other industry standard-setting bodies, the FSB is currently working to promote standardized use in ISO 20022 payments messaging to mitigate constraints in cross-border payments. This includes the definition and harmonization of data fields - including identifiers - being transmitted along the payment chain. 
 
 GLEIF is working with leading payments industry stakeholders to demonstrate the significant value the LEI brings to non-financial corporates and financial institutions when transmitted in cross-border payment flows. The five key use cases are: screening; KYC and client onboarding; fraud detection and fight against vendor scams; e-invoice reconciliation; and account-to-account validation.

Read on to learn about these use cases and GLEIF’s pilot engagements:

The Value of the LEI: Cross-Border Payments Pilot Engagements

Faster, Cheaper KYC & customer onboarding Enhanced Fraud and Vendor Scam Detection & Corporate Invoice Reconciliation Greater Accuracy Account-to- Account Owner Validation Increased Efficiency in Screening
(e.g. Watchlists & Sanctions)

Market Infrastructure Implementations

Publications

FSB – Financial Stability Board

G20 Roadmap for Enhancing Cross-border Payments: Consolidated progress report for 2024

Asian Banking & Finance

LEI adoption in payments grows amidst regulatory push

FSB – Financial Stability Board

Options to improve adoption of the LEI, in Particular the use of the LEI in Cross-border Payments

PMPG – Payments Market Practice Group

Global adoption of the LEI (Legal Identity Identifier) in ISO20022 Payment Messages – 2021 White paper

B20, Business at OECD (BIAC) and the IOE

Addressing efficiency in payments and working capital to deliver Sustainability and Growth

BIS - Bank of International Settlements

The power of data, technology and collaboration to combat money laundering across institutions and borders

Bank for International Settlements' Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI)

Harmonized ISO 20022 data requirements for enhancing cross-border payments

PMPG – Payments Market Practice Group

Ultimate Parties in Cross-Border Payment Messages

Bloomberg

How LEIs Benefit Cross Border Payments

PMPG – Payments Market Practice Group

Global Adoption of the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) in ISO 20022 Payment Messages – December 2023 (Version 2)

ICC – International Chamber of Commerce

Scaling the use of Digital Identities in Trade

Henry Stewart Publications – Journal of Payments Strategy & Systems Volume 18 Number 1

Leveraging the Legal Entity Identifier to mitigate the risk of financial crime and enhance fraud prevention in cross-border payments

Bank of England

A multi-tool for cross-border payments: the power of Legal Entity Identifiers − speech by Victoria Cleland - Given at the FSB-GLEIF-ROC Global LEI Conference

Treasury Management International (TMI)

The Ultimate Passport for Cross-Border Payments