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Final Call: March Deadline Nears for New LEI Data Formats Driven by ROC

Uninterrupted access to LEI data beyond March 1 requires users to implement updated file formats


Author: Stephan Wolf

  • Date: 2022-02-16
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Public users of LEI data are reminded that from March 1, 2022, all GLEIF services will accept and display data in updated Common Data File (CDF) formats, requiring users to implement these new file formats ahead of that deadline for uninterrupted access to LEI data. The updated file formats will increase the level of open, standardized, and high-quality legal entity reference data available within the Global LEI Index.

The CDF formats define how LEI issuing organizations report their LEI and reference data. GLEIF published updates to the formats in 2021 to align with the following new ROC policies:

Throughout the month of March, all LEI issuing organizations will migrate to the new formats and undergo testing to ensure a smooth transition. Users of the Global LEI System should therefore be prepared to support content following the existing and new business rules throughout March when performing LEI data analysis. This applies to users of the following LEI data:

  • GLEIF Concatenated files
  • Golden Copy and Delta files
  • Golden Copy files accessed via the GLEIF API

Data consumers can make their updates to the new format versions in advance of March 1, 2022 as files in the older formats are compatible with the new ones. To support data consumers who are unable to update their data processing by March 1, 2022, GLEIF provides ‘Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations’ (XSLT) which allow these data consumers to transform the newer versions, from a technical format perspective, into the previous versions.

GLEIF has made many supporting resources available on its website, including technical details, example files and a guiding document for the transition period from March 1 to 31, 2022.

After March 31, 2022, GLEIF anticipates a period of up to one year before the Global LEI System will be fully populated with information on Legal Entity Events, Fund Relationships and Government Entities. Data is generally collected at the time of new LEI issuance or existing LEI renewal.

Continuous Access to GLEIF Data in RDF on data.world

In advance of the impending deadline, GLEIF can confirm that a successful collaboration with data.world has ensured that all GLEIF data in RDF (Resource Description Framework) hosted by data.world – which includes the entire Golden Copy XML dataset – has been updated to the new file formats. This will ensure seamless access to LEI linked open data for the global LEI community by data.world, the world’s largest open data community. data.world hosts an Saas-based enterprise data catalog comprising nearly 500,000 open datasets.

Additional support

If you have questions or need additional support ahead of the March 1 deadline, please email GLEIF: info@gleif.org.

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About the author:

Stephan Wolf was the CEO of the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) (2014 - 2024). Since March 2024, he has led the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)’s Industry Advisory Board (IAB) of the Digital Standards Initiative, the global platform for digital trade standards alignment, adoption, and engagement. Before he was appointed as Chair, he had been serving as Vice-Chair of the IAB since 2023. In the same year, he was elected to the Board of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Germany.

Between January 2017 and June 2020, Mr. Wolf was Co-convener of the International Organization for Standardization Technical Committee 68 FinTech Technical Advisory Group (ISO TC 68 FinTech TAG). In January 2017, Mr. Wolf was named one of the Top 100 Leaders in Identity by One World Identity. He has extensive experience in establishing data operations and global implementation strategies. He has led the advancement of key business and product development strategies throughout his career. Mr. Wolf co-founded IS Innovative Software GmbH in 1989 and served first as its managing director. He was later named spokesman of the executive board of its successor, IS.Teledata AG. This company ultimately became part of Interactive Data Corporation, where Mr. Wolf held the role of CTO. Mr. Wolf holds a university degree in business administration from J. W. Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main.


Tags for this article:
Global LEI Index, Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF), Common Data File Formats, Regulatory Oversight Committee (ROC), Data Management, Open Data