Microproduct data guidebeginner

GLEIF Legal Entity Identifier Index

Global legal-entity identifiers and reference data for building company lookup, ownership, and sanctions-screening tools.

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At a glance

Difficulty
Beginner — comfortable for a first prototype
Size
Medium · 0.1–2 GB
Formats
JSON, XML
Access
API or Download
API key
Not required
Provider
Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation
Updates
Daily
Data terms
CC0 1.0 Universal

From source to product signal

Test a product idea in four steps

GLEIF publishes Legal Entity Identifiers and reference data under CC0. Start with one known LEI rather than the concatenated golden copy. LEI coverage is not universal, reference data can lag the entity's own filings, and an LEI is not a credit, sanctions, or beneficial-ownership decision.

1

Check the setup

  • Python 3.10 or newer
  • A notebook environment such as Jupyter or Google Colab
  • An internet connection
2

Access the data

  1. 1.Read the GLEIF API page and the LEI Data Terms of Use, including the CC0 licence.
  2. 2.Request one LEI record from the public API.
  3. 3.Keep the LEI, legal name, jurisdiction, and registration status.
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3

Run the Python example

Install the packages, then run the notebook cell.

python -m pip install pandas requests

import pandas as pd
import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://api.gleif.org/api/v1/lei-records",
    params={"filter[lei]": "5493001KJTIIGC8Y1R12"},
    headers={"Accept": "application/vnd.api+json"},
    timeout=30,
)
response.raise_for_status()
records = pd.json_normalize(response.json()["data"])
print(records.filter(regex="id|legalName|jurisdiction|status").head())
4

Test a useful signal

Look up one legal entity by LEI

Test whether GLEIF can power a company-identity card from a single identifier.

  1. 01Keep the LEI, legal name, jurisdiction, and registration status.
  2. 02Record the last update time and any missing address fields.
  3. 03Explain that an LEI does not by itself confirm ownership, sanctions status, or that the entity is still operating.

Dataset details

Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation is a nonprofit source. Last verified 2026-08-18. Temporal coverage: current LEI records with daily golden copies.

Theme

Markets & Economics

Domains

FinanceBusinessCompliance

Data types

Registry DataRelational Data

Tasks

Entity ResolutionOwnership AnalysisScreening

Geography

Global

Formats

JSONXML

Provider

Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation

Data terms

CC0 1.0 Universal