A dive into corporate digital identity – and contemplating bulk LEI issuance
A recent research paper from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) looks in depth at the concept of corporate digital identity with a focus on the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI). It examines how identifiers work, their advantages and limitations, and opportunities going forward. As it observes, “corporate digital identity has the potential to dramatically simplify the identification and verification of companies,” and while the paper’s principal focus is on reduced risks and costs of doing business there is also plenty of food for thought in terms of regulatory benefits.
One point that caught our eye was the discussion of bulk LEI issuance. This is the idea that LEIs could be issued, in one take, to all the companies registered with an authority – meaning that corporate registries could serve as LEI issuers to all their applicants, providing they meet the relevant verification requirements. “This could dramatically enhance efficiency and reliability of data collection since the corporate registry already should have information about the core attributes of any registered company.”
Read more here.
