Legal Entity Identifier
When Trading in Financial Instruments (LEI)
As of and including 1st of September 2021, all legal entities that intend to trade in financial instruments, admitted for trade on a regulated trading venue must obtain a Legal Entity Identifier (LEI). A regulated trading venue refers to a regulated market, multilateral trading facility (MTF) and organised trading facility (OTF).
Please note that customers seeking to only trade with funds from Íslandssjóðir (e. Iceland Funds Ltd.) are not required to obtain an LEI. The LEI is necessary for trading in other financial instruments, for example shares and bonds registered on Nasdaq Iceland.
Submitting the LEI to Íslandsbanki
Please notify Íslandsbanki of the issued LEI, its validity along with the Icelandic ID number of the legal entity by emailing custody@islandsbanki.is.
What is an LEI?
LEI (Legal Entity Identifier) is a 20-digit, alpha-numeric code which is an international identity number used for identification of legal entities in Íslandsbanki’s reporting to the Icelandic Supervisory Authority. The objective of the LEI is to enable supervisory authorities to monitor individual legal entities and thereby improve systematic risk monitoring and making investigation of misconduct with financial instruments easier. Further information on LEIs can be found on ESMA website (European Securities and Markets Authority).
Who needs to have an LEI?
- All legal entities need to obtain an LEI to be able to trade in financial instruments admitted for trade on a regulated trading venue. This includes UCITS, investment funds, pension funds, insurance companies, municipalities, institutions and all other companies.
- The issuers of financial instruments admitted for trade on a regulated trading venue need to obtain an LEI. For example, issuers of shares and bonds admitted to Nasdaq OMX Iceland or First North market.
- Financial undertakings that carry out trade in financial instruments admitted for trade on a regulated trading venue need to obtain an LEI.
How to obtain an LEI?
LEI is obtained electronically and a valid email address must be provided when applying for it. Legal entities are free to choose their preferred LEI issuing organisation to apply with, there is no LEI issuer in Iceland. The Global Legal Entity Foundation (GLEIF) monitors the issuance of LEIs and the list of recognised LEI issuers can be found on its website. Most of the LEI issuers on the list have authority to issue an LEI for Icelandic legal entities. It usually takes 3-7 days to issue an LEI.
The following list is an example for current operational issuers of LEIs, but the list in whole can be accessed here:
LEIs are valid for a year at a time and there is a starting fee and a maintenance fee to be paid to the issuer. Customers must renew their registration annually. The cost of obtaining an LEI can vary depending on the LEI issuer. The applying entity can receive an offer (Bulk price) from an LEI issuer if the entity needs to obtain many LEIs.
Information about legal entities that already have obtained an LEI can be found on the GLEIF website.
Required information when applying for an LEI
The information that must accompany an LEI application is among others:
- Registered name of the Legal Entity
- Name in English if applicable
- Address
- State of establishment
- Address of headquarters if applicable
- Business Register Entity ID/Registration Entity ID
- Business Register/Registration Authority
- Company form
- Parent Entity if applicable
- Associated Entity if applicable
- Statement verifying the user is an Authorized to register for on behalf of Legal Entity – some issuers provide a standard form
- Certificate of Registration.
It shall be noted that requirements on information to be provided can vary between LEI issuers. Some LEI issuers can require more information than above while other issuers require less.
Íslandsbanki's LEI number:
549300PZMFIQR79Q0T97