An LEI authorisation form is a short written power of attorney that lets someone who isn’t a registered officer of your company apply for or renew a Legal Entity Identifier on the company’s behalf.1wm leiportal. LEI FAQ – Questions and Answers If the person submitting your application is already listed as a managing director, board member, or authorized signatory in your official commercial register, you don’t need the form at all. Everyone else does: employees without signing authority, outside consultants, and registration agents all need a signed authorization before the Local Operating Unit (LOU) will touch the file.
When the Form Is Required
The form only comes into play when the applicant is acting on the company’s behalf without being a registered representative.1wm leiportal. LEI FAQ – Questions and Answers Registration agents fall into this category by default. These are firms that GLEIF permits to help clients reach the network of LEI-issuing organizations; they partner with one or more LOUs, and the LOU remains responsible to GLEIF for the result.2Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation. Registration Agents – Organizational Identity
If you’re renewing rather than registering, the same rule applies: whoever submits the renewal on the company’s behalf needs authorization unless they’re a registered officer.
Fields You Need to Complete
Forms vary slightly between LOUs, but the structure is consistent. A typical authorization — such as the GS1 version used through LEI.direct — asks for the following:3LEI.direct. Letter of Authorisation – LEI Request
- Company name and legal form, written exactly as they appear in the official business register. Trade names and abbreviated forms will fail validation.
- Company address: street, city, postal code, and country. The LOU checks this against a local authoritative source such as a national business register.4Office of Financial Research. Register for a Legal Entity Identifier
- Signatory’s full name and official title, matching the register entry.
- Name and email address of the person or firm being authorized to act.
- Place and date of signing, plus the signature itself. Date the form the day it is actually signed.
Several LOUs require the completed form on your company’s own business letterhead, not the LOU’s and not the agent’s.3LEI.direct. Letter of Authorisation – LEI Request If you are renewing, add the existing 20-character LEI so the LOU can link the authorization to the correct record. For corporate groups managing identifiers across multiple subsidiaries, WM Datenservice publishes a version of the form that authorizes several LEI applications under a single document.5WM Datenservice. Authorization Document for Several LEI Applications
Who Can Sign
Only a person with legal authority to bind the company can grant the power of attorney. In practice that means a managing director, board member, or someone else listed as an authorized signatory in the official commercial register.1wm leiportal. LEI FAQ – Questions and Answers The LOU will cross-check the signatory’s name and title against the register, so both have to match the register entry exactly.5WM Datenservice. Authorization Document for Several LEI Applications
A signature from an unauthorized person results in rejection. There is no provisional processing. Where signing authority is shared and two directors must act jointly, the form needs two signatures; the LEI.direct template includes fields for a primary and a secondary signatory for that reason.3LEI.direct. Letter of Authorisation – LEI Request
Submitting the Form
Once signed, upload the completed form as a PDF through your chosen LOU’s online portal during the application.1wm leiportal. LEI FAQ – Questions and Answers Some LOUs will also accept the form by encrypted email.
After submission, the LOU validates your authorization by comparing the signatory details against public register data, and it must verify all reference data with local authoritative sources before issuing the LEI.4Office of Financial Research. Register for a Legal Entity Identifier Mismatched names, missing letterhead, or an illegible signature will send the form back for correction. Processing time depends on the LOU and on how clean the submission is.
One practical note on scope: if the applicant also has to supply Level 2 data about your parent entities, the authorization you sign covers that too. Make sure the applicant has your consolidated accounts or parent-entity details in hand before they start, because the LEI system requires registrants to report both their direct accounting consolidating parent and their ultimate accounting consolidating parent, or to select a reason none applies.6Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation. Level 2 Data: Who Owns Whom – LEI Data: Access and Use
Keeping the Authorization Valid at Renewal
LEIs are renewed annually.7Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation. The Legal Entity Identifier (LEI): Questions and Answers The authorization you filed at initial registration generally stays valid for renewals handled by the same representative, but confirm with your LOU: some request a fresh form when the signatory or the authorized agent has changed. If either the person signing or the person acting is different from last year, assume a new authorization is needed and prepare one before the renewal window.
If a renewal lapses, the LEI’s status flips from “issued” to “lapsed” in the GLEIF database, and that change is permanent in the public record. Counterparties can refuse to do business with an entity whose LEI has lapsed, and regulators can act on the non-compliance.
What Rejection or Lapse Actually Costs
In the European Union the rule is categorical. Under MiFID II, ESMA confirmed that investment firms must not provide services that trigger transaction-reporting obligations for a client eligible for an LEI until that LEI has been obtained.8European Securities and Markets Authority. LEI Requirements Under MiFID II No LEI, no trade.
In the United States, the CFTC requires LEIs for derivatives clearing and reporting, and the Office of Financial Research has embedded the identifier across other reporting frameworks. A large international bank may hold separate LEIs for the parent and each subsidiary that trades stocks, bonds, or swaps, so a lapse anywhere in that structure can block or delay transactions and expose the entity to penalties.9Office of Financial Research. Frequently Asked Questions
Those are the stakes behind a one-page form. Check the signatory’s name and title against the business register before printing. Use the company’s own letterhead where the LOU requires it. Date the form the day it is signed, keep a signed copy for your records, and give your applicant everything they need, including parent-entity accounts, before they open the portal.