GLEIF Webcast: Advancing Digital Identity with the LEI
GLEIF informs on next steps designed to simplify and streamline entity identification in the digital age
Author: Stephan Wolf
Date: 2018-12-05
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The way we work has been revolutionized by technology. The automation and digitization of many manual processes within and across organizations has led to considerable time and cost savings. In this increasingly globalized digital economy, a few clear challenges emerge. One of which is verifying the identity of customers, partners and suppliers which remains a time-consuming and costly process. In this Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) webcast, we outline how the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) can be leveraged to address these challenges.
The LEI offers market participants a one-stop approach to identifying legal entities based on open, high quality and standardized reference data. Broad LEI adoption has therefore, the potential to take the complexity out of business transactions. Integrating the LEI into other entity verification methods, including solutions based on digital certificates and blockchain technology, will allow anyone to easily connect all records associated with an organization, and identify who owns whom. By becoming the common link, the LEI will provide certainty of identity in any online interaction, making it easier for everyone to participate in the global digital marketplace.
To download the presentation tabled with this webcast and source further background information on the topics discussed, refer to the ‘related links’ below.
This webcast focuses on the following topics:
Firstly, we provide a very brief introduction to our organization and the concept of the LEI.
Next, we identify the key challenges of entity identification in the digital age, based on research carried out by GLEIF. The findings demonstrate that replacing disjointed information with a globally accepted approach for entity identification based on broad LEI adoption would deliver quantifiable value to businesses in the financial services sector and beyond.
Then we discuss mapping. The unambiguous identification of counterparties is a core requirement of doing business digitally. To that end, many businesses use mapping solutions, which match entity identifier A against entity identifier B to ensure that both are recognized as referring to the same organization. We introduce the GLEIF mapping certification process. It verifies that organizations that map their own identifiers against the corresponding LEI use state of the art methodologies to do so accurately.
We also offer insight on how we continuously increase the information available within the LEI data pool and make it ever easier to access the information. We introduce the enhanced LEI search tool 2.0, to be launched on 11 December 2018, empowering data users to connect the corporate dots globally and take a look at the next GLEIF application programming interface (API).
We report on next steps to assess if and how distributed ledger technology could be leveraged for data collection and distribution in the Global LEI System. With regard to this topic, we also briefly discuss our proposal to integrate LEIs into digital certificates.
And lastly, we update on latest developments relevant to the GLEIF funding model.
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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.
