LEI Transfer: How to Switch Providers and What Happens to the Time Already Paid

Companies change LEI providers for ordinary reasons, such as a cheaper renewal, a reminder that never arrived or the wish to keep a group’s codes in one place. None of these calls for a new code, because an LEI can be transferred to another provider with its number unchanged. You can order an LEI transfer online through us, and our guide to what an LEI is covers the basics.

What Changes in an LEI Transfer

An LEI transfer changes only one thing: the issuer that manages the code. GLEIF, the foundation that runs the global LEI system, accredits these issuers, and the company you paid may be one of them or a provider working for one. Either way, the code’s record in the GLEIF database names the issuer as the managing LOU (Local Operating Unit). The code and its first registration date stay as they were, and so does the next renewal date unless you renew at the same time. You therefore do not need to give your bank or broker a new code.

A transfer is not a renewal. Renewal is the yearly data check that keeps the code’s status ISSUED (active), and only the managing issuer can carry it out. To renew elsewhere, you first transfer the code, and some providers, including us, combine both in one application.

How to Transfer Your LEI Step by Step

1. Check the record. Search for your company in the GLEIF database and note the LEI, its status, the managing issuer and the next renewal date.
2. Apply with the new provider. Enter the LEI and choose a transfer, with or without renewal, depending on what the provider offers. If the company’s name or address has changed, the new issuer will update the record and may ask for documents.
3. Confirm your authority. A director or another person who can represent the company confirms the request, or someone else does so under a power of attorney.
4. Let the old issuer release the code. The new issuer sends the old one a transfer request, and the old issuer asks your company to confirm it. Meanwhile, the GLEIF record shows the status PENDING_TRANSFER.
5. Check the result. Once the transfer is complete, the record names the new issuer.

How Long an LEI Transfer Takes

GLEIF’s rules for LEI issuers expect a transfer to be completed within five to ten working days on average. In our experience it usually takes one or two working days.

What Happens to the Time You Have Already Paid For

Best Time to Transfer and Renew

The time paid up to the renewal date can be lost only when you transfer and renew an LEI at the same time. Under GLEIF’s rules, each renewal adds one year to the renewal date, but the new date may be no more than one year and 60 days after the day of renewal. In the last 60 days before the renewal date, this limit does not get in the way. If you renew four months before that date, however, the new date can be at most 14 months away instead of 16, so at least two months of paid time are lost.

The best time to transfer and renew is therefore in those last 60 days, when you would be renewing anyway. A lapsed LEI has no paid time left to lose, so it can be moved at any time. For a code that is still ISSUED, moving earlier mainly makes sense when the old provider can no longer serve you.

Prepaid Years of a Multi-Year LEI Package

A three- or five-year LEI package does not appear in the GLEIF record, which never shows a renewal date more than a year and 60 days ahead. The provider renews the code each year from the money paid in advance, so these future renewals belong to your contract with it and do not move with the code. Some providers’ terms state that the package ends on transfer without a refund. GLEIF requires providers working for an issuer to have a refund process for at least the first 60 days of a contract. Beyond that, check the provider’s terms, plan the switch for the last year of the package and cancel any automatic renewal or saved card with the old provider.

How Our LEI Transfer Works

We accept LEI transfers from companies in 51 countries, whichever issuer manages the code. In our application form, choose transfer and enter the LEI. The transfer is free; the only charge is the renewal that comes with it, priced like a new code and available for one, three or five years. Our LEI price comparison sets these prices against other providers’, and our page on choosing us as your LEI provider describes the rest of the service.

Because our transfer always includes a renewal, check the renewal date before you order. If it is more than 60 days away, send us the LEI and we will look at the timing with you.

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Frequently Asked Questions