• Published on 7 May 2024
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GLEIF confirms BNP Paribas as new validation agent in Global LEI System

The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) announced that BNP Paribas has become the latest global financial institution to be approved as a validation agent in the Global LEI System.

The addition of BNP Paribas to the Global LEI System marks the first global systemically important bank (G-SIB) headquartered in the European Union to join the validation agent programme.

The validation agent programme has been live for over two years and more than 15 validation agents operate around the world. The framework was developed to enable banks and other regulated institutions to leverage their know-your-customer (KYC) and client onboarding procedures to help clients obtain LEIs. By doing so, validation agents can improve their corporate client onboarding experience, accelerate client lifecycle management processes, and improve internal data management.

BNP Paribas proactively provides corporate and institutional banking (CIB) clients with an LEI, ensuring the long-term efficacy of new processes by providing high data accuracy. BNP Paribas obtains LEIs for CIB clients as they are onboarded, and will ensure LEI completeness during the KYC recertification process. This enables the bank to streamline onboarding processes and deliver a more convenient client experience by simplifying the entity identification procedures.

By providing clients with an  LEI, BNP Paribas is also promoting wider global uptake. Diversifying how LEIs are utilised by both the bank and its clients creates opportunities to leverage the standardised global business identity system in a range of use-cases where counterparty verification is required. This includes cross-border payments, KYC and anti-money laundering (AML), external provider matching, international supply chain relationships, environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting, and digital identity applications.

Support for broader adoption follows strong international advocacy for the use of the LEI in ISO 20022 payment messages to facilitate key cross-border payment use-cases and to fight global financial crime. This includes the Bank for International Settlements' Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures' (CPMI), The Wolfsberg Group and the Swift Payment Market Practice Group (PMPG).

Goulven Charlès, chief data officer at BNP Paribas corporate and institutional banking, said: "Assuming the role of validation agent marks our commitment to promoting greater trust and transparency between global businesses. As part of our continuous data efforts, we are deploying the LEI, thereby delivering value for our clients and across BNP Paribas CIB.”

Stephan Wolf, CEO at GLEIF, said: “The validation agent role was designed to offer a multitude of benefits to any financial institution that engages corporate clients. Both BNP Paribas and its clients will benefit from enhanced client onboarding and lifecycle management processes. In addition to the value derived from the role, BNP Paribas has a clear opportunity to evolve how LEIs are used, both in response to compliance mandates, and more broadly to facilitate greater transparency between organisations around the world to support the fight against financial crime. Welcoming BNP Paribas to the validation agent programme is a significant development for the Global LEI System and we’re delighted that BNP Paribas has recognised the opportunity presented by the role.”

Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker