The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) today announces a new initiative with the UK business registry, Companies House, to simplify and accelerate the international identifiability and discoverability of UK businesses.
By embedding a direct URL link into the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) records of UK companies, any LEI data user globally can now access that entity’s Companies House registration data and documentation with a single click, streamlining counterparty due diligence processes and bringing increased transparency to global transactions.
The initiative facilitates Know Your Customer (KYC), Know Your Supplier (KYS) checks and other due diligence obligations for any organization seeking to do business with a LEI-holding limited company registered in the UK. It removes the requirement for global data users to confirm Companies House as the relevant registration authority, identify and navigate to the correct website, translate into local language, and then manually search for an organization using its business registration number. As a result, UK businesses stand to benefit from increased discoverability and identifiability globally. This is particularly beneficial for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) looking to expand into new markets.
Every LEI links to a verified company identity record held in the Global LEI Index, an open, globally recognized data bank that is free for all to access. Each LEI record contains key reference information registered by local authoritative sources to enable the clear and unique identification of legal entities globally. The 'linking' initiative enables easy and direct access to each entity’s official registration data and associated documentation on the Companies House website.
Alexandre Kech, CEO, GLEIF, comments: "GLEIF and Companies House are on a mission to drive corporate transparency, bringing significant benefits to global marketplaces engaging with the UK. Enabling LEI data users to click through to the registration data and official documentation will make the ‘business of doing business’ with UK firms faster and easier to navigate. By connecting directly to the official data about these organizations we’re simplifying due diligence for counterparties all around the world. This initiative reaffirms the benefits of leveraging the LEI as a central data connector to all business registries, everywhere.”
Louise Smyth, Chief Executive, Companies House, comments: "Thanks to our collaboration with GLEIF, LEI data users can now directly access a wide range of business data held at Companies House simply and securely, enabling a new level of transparency for UK firms. This creates new efficiencies in overseas partner due diligence processes and will help highlight new opportunities for UK companies to use their LEI when operating across borders and jurisdictions.”
The launch of the GLEIF and Companies House linking initiative follows a similar GLEIF collaboration with The Netherlands Chamber of Commerce (KVK), announced in December 2024, which provided LEI data users with direct access to official business registry data on the KVK website.
GLEIF is now seeking to engage additional business registries around the world with the aim of leveraging the LEI as a central data connector to further enhance global corporate transparency and advance the fight against economic crime.