Free tool
LEI search and lookup: find a LEI by company name or code
LEI search: find a Legal Entity Identifier by company name, or look up a LEI code to see who it belongs to, in the GLEIF database. No signup — the request goes straight from your browser to GLEIF.
What a LEI is
A Legal Entity Identifier is a 20-character code that uniquely identifies a legal entity in financial transactions worldwide. It was created after the 2008 crisis, when regulators found they could not reliably tell which legal entities were counterparties to which trades.
The last two characters are an ISO 7064 MOD 97-10 checksum, so a mistyped LEI is caught before any lookup — this page checks that locally before it calls GLEIF at all. LEIs are issued by accredited Local Operating Units and published by GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation, as open data.
Reading the result
Registration status is the field most people miss. A LEI must be renewed annually, so lapsed means the entity stopped re-validating its reference data. That is a genuine due-diligence signal — not proof of a problem, but worth noticing on a counterparty that claims to be actively trading.
Entity status is different again: it tells you whether the legal entity itself is active or has been dissolved or merged away.
Ownership: GLEIF Level-2
Beyond identity, GLEIF publishes Level-2 relationship data — direct and ultimate parent links between LEIs, self-reported by the entities. It is one of very few open sources of cross-border group structure, and it works where beneficial-ownership registers do not, because it is a disclosure obligation rather than a public register.
The Prometiam API exposes those relationships through its LEI endpoints, alongside registry data for every country the API covers, so you can go from a LEI to a parent to that parent's national registry record in one integration. See the LEI API guide.
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer rk_live_..." \ "https://api.prometiam.com/functions/v1/risk-api/lei/OW6OFBNCKXC4US5C7523/relationships"
FAQ
What is the LEI database, and how does a LEI finder work?
The LEI database is the Global LEI Index that GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation, publishes as open data: one record for every Legal Entity Identifier (ISO 17442, 20 characters). A LEI finder, like the search above, searches it by company name or LEI code and returns the legal name, jurisdiction, status and renewal date.
How do I look up a LEI on GLEIF?
Type the 20-character LEI in the box above, or the company name. The request goes straight to GLEIF's public API and returns the legal name, addresses, jurisdiction, legal form, registration status and next renewal date. A LEI that fails its ISO 7064 checksum is flagged before any request is made.
Can I search GLEIF for a legal entity by name?
Yes. Search by legal name above and the page lists up to ten matching entities from the GLEIF register. Names are not unique across jurisdictions, so confirm the country and address before relying on a match.
Is LEI data free?
Yes — GLEIF publishes the register as open data with a public API, which is why this page needs no key and costs nothing to run.
Does my search go through Prometiam?
No. Your browser calls GLEIF directly. We never see the query.
What does a lapsed LEI mean?
The entity stopped renewing. Reference data has not been re-validated — a signal worth noting, not a verdict.
Can I get a LEI from a company name?
Yes, search by name above. Bear in mind that names are not unique across jurisdictions, so confirm the country and address before relying on a match.
How do I use the GLEIF entity search?
Type a company name or a 20-character LEI in the box above. The page queries GLEIF's public register, the same data GLEIF's own search shows, and lists the matching legal entities with their LEI, jurisdiction and status.
Is there a free LEI look up API?
Yes. GLEIF publishes the register as open data through a public API that needs no key. Prometiam adds LEI endpoints on top for programmatic use; the LEI lookup API guide shows both.
Is GLEIF free or paid?
Reading the register is free: searching GLEIF data costs nothing. Registering or renewing a LEI is done through an accredited LEI issuer, which may charge a fee.
How do I check that a LEI is valid?
A LEI has 20 alphanumeric characters and ends with an ISO 7064 MOD 97-10 checksum. This page flags a LEI that fails the checksum, then confirms its registration status and renewal date against GLEIF.