GMEI Utility vs LEI Register
The Global LEI System encourages competition between LEI issuers and registrators to benefit legal entities seeking an LEI. The price of issuing and maintaining an LEI has therefore been left to the organizations themselves. This explains why some companies charge double the price of their competitors.
On July 27 2023, the GMEI Utility was officially closed. Registrations, renewals and transfers are no longer accepted
GMEI Utility LEI Register
initial registration cost (1 year) $870 HKD initial registration cost (1 year) $690 HKD
annual renewal cost of $713 HKD annual renewal cost of $690 HKD
multiyear renewal – does not offer multiyear renewal for 3 years – $533 HKD/per year
multiyear renewal for 5 years – $500 HKD/per year
*The prices have been displayed without VAT, which will be added when applicable
**Available at: https://gmei.dtcc.com/pricing [Accessed 29 June 2023]
***Prices have been converted from USD to HKD on 29 June 2023
Who issues LEI codes?
The Global LEI System (GLEIS) was developed by the G20 in 2011, in response to the 2008 global financial crisis.
Obtaining a Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) is easy – you’ll need to pick a preferred business partner from all the LEI-issuing and registering organizations. The choice can be between various Global Legal Entity Foundation (GLEIF) accredited Local Operating Units (LOUs) or Registration Agents (RAs).
An LOU can issue LEIs to legal entities participating in financial transactions. Although LOUs themselves can register LEIs for clients, they typically choose to leave reaching customers and dealing with the possible challenges to RAs.
GLEIF created the concept of the “Registration Agent” to streamline the issuance of LEIs. Their role is to help legal entities like you, looking to obtain an LEI code. RA’s success is determined by the efficiency of their systems and by how well they’re able to simplify the LEI registration or renewal process for their clients.
LEI pricing structure
The fees charged for the issuance and maintenance of an LEI are entirely a matter of the LOU or RA. This explains the diverse price differences you’ll come across when researching partners to register with. Obtaining an LEI code can cost between $690+VAT to $2500+VAT, depending on your chosen partner’s profit formula.
What you often don’t hear about within that system, is that the organization’s charging structure determines the LEI prices and has nothing to do with the value of the LEI code itself. The code is simply a tool that enables you to easily identify legal entities, that are active in the financial market.
GMEI Utility
Legal entities from all jurisdictions involved in financial transactions can use the GMEI Utility to register for globally accepted LEIs. With data quality validation procedures in over 230 jurisdictions, GMEI Utility provides organizations with multiple legal entity subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide with the ability to register and maintain reference data for all entities in one place.
The GMEI Utility is a GLEIF-accredited LOU that collaborates with several other Registration Agents.
With GMEI, the initial registration of your LEI will cost around $870+VAT and renewal $713+VAT per LEI.
Pricing [online].
Available at: https://gmei.dtcc.com/pricing [Accessed 29 June 2023].
LEI Register
LEI Register is an official RA, we have been helping legal entities apply for new LEI codes or transfer and renew existing LEI codes since early 2018. We have successfully pursued our goal of making the LEI registration process simple, automated, fast, and affordable. LEI Register has built a loyal customer base by offering the lowest prices on the market, whilst keeping active 7 days a week customer support in 35 countries.
The cost of registering an LEI with LEI Register is $690+VAT, and the same goes for yearly renewals unless you sign up for multiyear renewals. This is a concept that LEI Register introduced in 2018, and has now become a standard among many service providers.
Multiyear renewals are designed to help you save time and money. LEI Register will take on the responsibility of renewing your LEI before the annual expiry date, which will help to avoid unpleasant scenarios like your transactions being blocked due to a lapsed LEI.
You’ll be able to choose between a 3- and 5-year period, the first one costing you $533+VAT per year and the second option as low as $500+VAT per year.
LEI data quality
To clarify the concept of data quality, GLEIF has defined, in close dialog with the LEI Regulatory Oversight Committee and the LEI issuing organizations, a set of measurable quality criteria using standards developed by the International Organisation for Standardization (ISO).
GLEIF releases monthly Global LEI Data Quality Reports and LEI Issuer Data Quality reports. These files can be accessed from the GLEIF Data Quality Management.
Comparing the Business Entity Data B.V. (GMEI Utility, a service of BED BV) to our Ubisecure Oy (RapidLEI) partner, you’ll find that the key metric Average Total Data Quality Score (TDQS) has remained a strong 99.99 for both of the LEI service providers. This signifies that the quality of work these two LOUs put out is equally excellent.
Data Quality Report (2022) [online].
Available at: https://www.gleif.org/en/lei-data/gleif-data-quality-management [Accessed 22 March 2021].
Key takeaways
- Creating the price of issuing and maintaining an LEI is not structured and has been left to each LEI issuer and Registration Agent themselves to construct.
- The LEI price reflects your chosen partner’s profit formula and has nothing to do with the value of your LEI.
- To check your service provider’s data quality, visit GLEIF Data Quality Management Reports