The LEI in figures: A look back at the key milestones in 2022

With increasing adoption and the introduction of new data formats, the global LEI system has provided more transparency and trust for global data consumers in 2022

The Global LEI Foundation (GLEIF) is proud of its ongoing transparency initiatives. This includes its open approach to providing unrestricted access to the latest LEI data from around the world through the LEI System’s quarterly annual reports, which are made available to the public free of charge. With GLEIFs blog they aim to highlight key data from the latest report, explain trends and showcase the successes of the global LEI rollout.

2022 was a historic year for global LEI growth. In the first quarter, global adoption reached a new milestone of over two million active LEIs, and the year ended with a total LEI population of 2.19 million, with over 252,000 LEIs issued. This represents a strong annual growth rate of 12.9% and highlights the increasing maturity of the global LEI system.

New LEI data formats were also successfully introduced in 2022, following a new ROC guideline. This expanded the scope of data included in each LEI by capturing details on the classification of public sector entities, events related to legal entities, and information on fund relationships. Since the introduction, the number of data reported in these formats has steadily increased, leading to more transparency in the global market and enhancing the usefulness of the global LEI system for all data consumers.

Data from the latest annual report, which covers the fourth quarter of 2022, shows that over 80,000 LEIs were issued throughout the quarter – a sharp increase from the 50,000 issued in the third quarter. This represents a quarterly growth rate of 3.8% in the total active LEI population.

For a further summary of last quarter’s data, please see the infographic below showing the key statistics from Q4 2022.

So-called “competitive markets” refer to markets with more than 1,000 LEIs, based on the number of LEI issuers offering services in the respective country. The most competitive markets are those with the most LEI issuers per country and a similar market share, and conversely, those with the least competition.

China had the highest LEI growth rate per country in Q4, with an increase of 32.1%. This means that China has reached its target set by the Chinese authorities for 2022 to increase LEI volume in mainland China to 100,000. This was closely followed by Saudi Arabia (25%), which is consistently among the highest growth countries in 2022 due to the continued success of the Saudi Credit Bureau’s LEI initiative in collaboration with the Central Bank of Saudi Arabia to promote LEI adoption across the region’s financial sector. The rest of the top five growth countries are Thailand (9.1%), Turkey (7.3%), and India (7.1%).

Growth in reporting in the new data formats remained steady in Q4. 88,000 legal entities are now reporting fund relationships, an increase of over 15,000 from the previous quarter. In addition, over 4,800 government entities were reported in the Global LEI System by the end of the quarter (up from 4,600 in Q3), while the number of international organizations remained at 19.

The overall renewal rate for Q4 was 60.1%, a slight decrease from the previous quarter (61.9%). This is a common trend for the last quarter of the year, as renewals slow down in December in regions celebrating the festive season.

Japan was the country with the highest renewal rate in Q4 (91%), a position it has maintained in 2022. Other countries with the highest renewal rates are Luxembourg (88.5%), Finland (87.3%), Norway (81.6%), and Liechtenstein (81.2%).

The full report, with further details on the status of LEI issuance and potential for growth, the level of competition between LEI issuing organizations in the global LEI system, and Level 1 and Level 2 reference data, can be found on the Global LEI System Annual Reports page.

Readers are reminded that the CDF formats were updated in March 2022 based on the Regulatory Oversight Committee (ROC) guidelines: Legal Entity Events (formerly referred to as “Corporate Actions”) and Data History in the Global LEI System, Policy on Fund Relationships and Guidelines for the registration of Investment Funds in the Global LEI System, and LEI Eligibility for General Government Entities Guidance Document.

https://www.gleif.org/en/newsroom/blog/the-lei-in-numbers-reflecting-on-key-milestones-in-2022