South African legal entities who have to comply with European regulations to execute a transaction with European counterparts can now apply to Strate for their Legal Entity Identifier (LEI), which is being used by regulators to provide greater transparency into financial markets and counter party exposures.
From June 2018, firms subject to MiFID II transaction reporting obligations will not be able to execute a trade on behalf of a client who does not have a valid LEI. This is just one of a number of European regulations and directives where an LEI is required, with the next phase of European Markets Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) on margin requirements for non-centrally cleared OTC derivatives to follow.
On 31 May 2018, the Global LEI Foundation (GLEIF) approved Strate as a fully accredited issuer of LEIs, known as a Local Operating Unit (LOU). LOUs are the utilities endorsed by the Regulatory Oversight Committee (ROC), or accredited by the GLEIF under ROC oversight, to provide LEI registrations to registrants and other services. Strate has been issuing LEI since 2014 in its role as an endorsed pre-LOU, and to date, has issued over 350 LEIs.
For more information, visit https://www.lei-strate.co.za/.
