For years, the financial services industry has been challenged by the fragmented collection of identifiers used to designate an entity as a party to a financial transaction. The financial crisis in 2008 underscored the need for a single entity code so transaction counterparties and regulators could analyze the monetary exposure and risk profile of counterparties. As a result, the securities industry undertook a project to create a unique code, legal entity identifier (LEI), designed to provide transparency of counterparties to financial transactions.

In 2010, ICI joined with an industry coalition to address regulatory proposals from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), as well as a statement of policy from the Office of Financial Research (OFR), aimed at requiring financial counterparties to acquire and use LEIs when completing transactions. Since its inception, the coalition has grown to include a global constituency of market participants, trade associations, and related stakeholders. The coalition initiated and maintains its outreach to regulators and others promoting the implementation of a single, globally accepted LEI for financial counterparties.

The coalition is working closely with U.S. and global regulators, such as the Financial Stability Board (FSB), who are tasked with creating the framework, governance, and implementation of a global LEI system. In 2012, as recommended by the industry coalition, the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) partnered with the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) to implement a system to issue LEIs compliant with ISO Standard 17442, Financial Services—Legal Entity Identifier (LEI). The DTCC/SWIFT portal (also known as the DTCC/SWIFT CFTC Interim Compliance Identifier Utility) began issuing identifiers in August 2012. In November 2012, it received a prefix from FSB designating the portal as a sponsored issuer of LEIs.