London Stock Exchange (LSE) has announced that it has entered in a partnership with APIR Systems, who will act as a registration agent in Australia and South East Asia to support the issuance and maintenance of Legal Entity Identifiers (LEI).
The process of acquiring an LEI has recently become more complex, with level 2 data requirements requesting mandatory information on an entities parent-child hierarchy. This partnership means APIR Systems can ensure that its clients are able to obtain an LEI, the required global standard providing improved transparency of financial transactions that cross jurisdictional borders, in order to remain compliant.
APIR Systems will continue to assist clients with understanding their LEI requirements but will now send details to London Stock Exchange for validation and approval.
There are still a large number of LEIs that need to be acquired before the go-live of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) reporting regime on 3 January 2018. Industry estimates suggest more than 250,000 entities are still without the required LEIs. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has stated that firms should not trade with counterparties that do not have an LEI as they will not be able to submit valid transaction reports.
Chris Donohoe, Chief Executive Officer, APIR Systems said:
As Australia’s identification standard for a range of unlisted financial instruments since the late 1990s, it is a natural evolution for APIR Systems to join the global LEI initiative. In 2015 APIR began issuing LEI’s and has now evolved that service by partnering with London Stock Exchange to leverage their technical expertise and global scale. Although MiFID II is relatively new to Australian entities it does impact a broad range of financial services firms that transact with European counterparties, including funds, SMSFs and traders. The relationship with London Stock Exchange offers benefits for both our existing clients and the new client segments that will soon be impacted by these changes.
Pritha Sharma, Manager of LEI, Information Services, LSEG, added:
This partnership between London Stock Exchange and APIR Systems demonstrates our ongoing commitment to help market participants comply with a wide range of regulation. This partnership between London Stock Exchange and APIR looks to promote the LEI and raise awareness of the use of the identifier particularly in the Australasian market.