MiFID - Markets in Financial Instruments Directive

Under the new EU regulatory framework requirements, all legal entities engaged in carrying out transactions in financial instruments need to have an international identifier.

From 3 January 2018 on, in carrying out their activity, the providers and recipients of investment services and investment ancillary services have to comply with the requirements of the Markets In Financial Instruments Directive 2014/65/EU (MiFID II) and the Markets In Financial Instruments Regulation No. 600/2014 (MiFIR), under which all legal entities carrying out transactions in financial instruments need to be additionally identified with a unique international legal entity identifier (LEI).

An LEI is a unique 20 alphanumeric identifier, which allows identification of the counterparties of transactions in financial instruments regardless of the country. The LEI does not replace the registration number assigned to the company by the Register of Enterprises of the Republic of Latvia.

Who needs LEI and why?

As of 3 January 2018, all legal entities engaged in transactions (e.g., acquisitions or disposals) in various financial instruments (such as stocks, bonds, ETFs, derivatives, etc.) are required to have LEI to comply with the reporting duty under MiFID II and MiFIR. LEIs are also required for such transactions of legal entities, which are aimed to dispose of the financial instruments that were acquired before the date on which the new requirements started to apply.

The purpose of LEIs is to ensure better supervision and transparency of the financial market because, reporting the financial transactions carried out by legal entities to supervisory authorities (the Financial and Capital Market Commission), credit institutions are require to use LEIs as company identifiers. Unless the company notifies the bank of its LEI, SEB bank isn’t allow to accept such financial instrument transaction orders.

Where can an LEI be obtained?

LEIs are issued by the Local Operating Unit of the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF).

Without recommending any particular local operating unit, below we have listed the contact information of some of the most favoured local operating units issuing LEIs in the Baltic and Nordic countries:

• Nasdaq CSD
• NordLEI
• Bloomberg
• BalticLEI

A full list of the local operating units that issue and maintain LEIs

If your company already has an LEI, a new identifier would not be required. The LEI must be submitted to the bank under the procedure described below. If you do not know whether your company has a valid LEI, you can check it on the GLEIF website by reference to the company’s name.

What needs to be done to get an LEI?

To apply for an LEI, choose an LEI issuer (the local operating unit from the list of the institutions mentioned on the www.gleif.org list). Then fill in the application on the website of the relevant local operating unit, specifying the required information therein.

Usually, the information required will include the company's full name, business form (e.g., a limited liability company), registration number, country, and registered office.

How much does an LEI cost and what is the waiting time before I get it?

Registration and annual subscription fees are charged for an LEI. Therefore, before you buy an LEI, you should by all means ascertain the likely costs – they may vary depending on the LEI issuer selected by you.

Currently, the registration of an LEI costs about 65-200 euros, whereas the annual subscription fee is in the range of 50-100 euros.

It usually takes one -two weeks to receive an LEI.

If your company is not contemplating to engage in new financial transactions immediately after the entry of the requirements into force, purchasing of an LEI needs not to be done immediately, however, it should be taken into consideration that upon resuming transactions, an LEI will be a mandatory company identifier for transactions in financial instruments to be specified before carrying out the first transaction.

Where and to whom can I submit the received LEI at SEB bank?

To be able to engage in transactions in financial instruments, please to submit your LEI through Internet Bank section Securities/Securities accounts or notify your manager about your LEI before the contemplated transaction.

Who to contact to in case of further questions?

If you have any further questions, please call +371 26668777, +371 67779988, Skype (SEB_Latvia) You can also contact your manager at SEB bank.