Hi I have just got a letter from my broker ADMISI asking me for my pre-LEI number. I am just a small sole trader, operating on my own account through a UK limited company, trading oil futures on NYMEX. ADMISI invited me to apply for a pre-LEI number on a number of websites. The only one which seemed to have a price was the London Stock Exchange which offered a number at a bargain £ 100 + VAT and only another £55 + VAT pa to maintain my number. I tried a bit of Googling and it appears that anybody (person or company) who engages in any financial or commodity derivative trading incl on an exchange (I found somewhere which excluded spot FX deals for commercial reasons) - and this is obligatory in the EU under the EMIR regulations. Although I quickly got buried in goobedegook and I have a regulatory background (well I did 25 years ago) Does anybody know anything about this?? Gary
Oh great, global bureaucratic numbering nonsense that we have to pay for. If you read the LSE FAQs it states: "1.3 What is a Legal Entity Identifier (LEI)? An official LEI is a unique identifier associated with a legal person or structure that is organised under the laws of any jurisdiction (excluding natural persons) and created in accordance with the international standard ISO 17442. LEIs will enable consistent and unambiguous identification of parties to financial transactions." Trading as a natural person does not require a pre-LEI number, but trading through a structure does. That is all I am going to figure out.
It looks like anybody using a limited company to trade needs one of these. But why haven't I heard anything about this? There has to my knowledge been minimal mention on the Internet. Surely this is going to affect a very substantial proportion of traders!!! Why am the first to post anything about this on this site. ADMISI want my number by the 10th of Jan!!!
Hi Gary - This was also news to me when I was received an email from my broker last week! I also saw the LSE quote of £150+ and scoffed. Is this financial transaction taxes by the back door, do you think? Anyway, I'm also a little annoyed if its any consolation. Surely the Companies House number "uniquely" identifies the company? Why a need to pay a license fee to LSE to determine this?
Hi Ben You and me obviously are thinking the same thing. Do you might telling me who are your brokers? I still don't understand why there is nothing on the internet about this - you would have thought that lots of traders would have been grumbling. Gary
FWIW trying to log in to account management with IB today I need to elect wether I need a LEI and wether I chose IB to take care of it and do the following reporting. It seems it only applies to EU based entities though
Yes - same for me, luikHK. I had applied for an LEI with London Stock Exchange a couple of weeks back so I provided this information to IB. It took LSE about 10 days to "process" the application. There was also a cost involved so it is good if IB is not charging for the LEI. My other broker is also making a charge to deal with the reporting requirements so I might ditch that broker at some point. One question is whether I could "transfer" the LEI to another issuer next year, or just acquire a new LEI with someone that doesn't charge annually, such as IB. Or I am now forever tied to the whims of LSE charging schedule?! I'm unaware of any benefits of having an LEI issued by LSE as opposed to IB - I suppose it makes me a little more "independent" in the sense that I could leave IB at short notice if I wasn't happy with their service, but that's about it as far as I can tell.
IB charges 60 euros for this. EU making life harder for anyone with a small business but what else is new.