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Q3 2021 in review: The LEI in Numbers

Data from the latest Global LEI System Business Reports illustrates LEI adoption from July to September 2021


Author: Stephan Wolf

  • Date: 2021-10-18
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The Global LEI Foundation (GLEIF) is proud of its ongoing transparency initiatives. Namely its open approach to providing unrestricted access to the latest LEI data from around the world with the Quarterly LEI System Business Reports, which are made publicly available free of charge. Through this ‘LEI in Numbers’ blog series, GLEIF aims to highlight key data from the latest report, explaining trends and profiling successes from the global LEI rollout.

The latest report, covering Q3 2021, shows positive growth in the volume of LEIs worldwide. More than 60,000 LEIs were issued in Q3, representing a quarterly growth rate of 3.3%. This steady increase is welcome news as it is common for issuance levels over the summer months to slow. As a result, the total active LEI population is now 1.88 million.

For a further summary of the past quarter’s data, the below infographic contains the key statistics from Q3 2021.

In Q3, Iceland was the largest growth market for LEI issuance, with one of the highest growth rates seen in 2021 (30.8%). This is another significant quarterly increase for Iceland. Between Q1 and Q2, it doubled its growth rate from 9.2% to 19%. This regional growth was driven largely by strong competition among LEI issuers.

Aside from growth in new LEI issuance, renewal rates grew across EU jurisdictions (65.5%, up from 65.0% in Q2) and non-EU jurisdictions (63.0%, up from 62.9% in Q2). The average renewal rate of jurisdictions with more than 1000 LEIs globally remained steady. This consistently high level of LEI issuance and renewals across multiple regions is testament to the maturity of the Global LEI System and its increasingly central role in bringing trust to ecosystems.

In Q3, a new issuer was onboarded into GLEIF’s network of Local Operating Units (LOUs): NordLEI. Previously, NordLEI had been operating as a registration agent in the Nordics before adjusting their status to LOU to actively drive greater LEI adoption across Northern Europe.

For the full report which includes further detail on the status of LEI issuance and growth potential, the level of competition between LEI issuing organizations in the Global LEI System and Level 1 and 2 reference data, please visit the Global LEI System Business Reports page.

If you are interested in reviewing the latest daily LEI data, our Global LEI System Statistics Dashboard contains daily statistics on the total and active number of LEIs issued. This feature now enables any user to review historical data by geography, increasing transparency on the overall progress of the LEI.

For further detail, or to access historical data, please visit the Global LEI System Business Report Archive. We look forward to sharing our progress each quarter as we continue to drive LEI adoption in 2021.

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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 System Business Reports, Global LEI Index, Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF), LEI Issuers (Local Operating Units - LOUs), LEI Renewal, Open Data, Data Management, Level 1 / Business Card Data (Who is Who), Level 2 / Relationship Data (Who Owns Whom)