Preparing for your LEI application process

The LEI application process describes the preparation needed to obtain a Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) from RapidLEI, a GLEIF-accredited LEI Issuer. This information applies to LEI registrations for organisations, funds and trusts.

What to expect in the LEI application

Applying for an LEI is quick and straightforward for almost all organisations. Due to RapidLEI’s automation algorithms and machine help, many LEIs are issued within minutes or a few hours, depending on the jurisdiction and the completeness of the information provided.

The application process generally involves two main stages:

1. Submission of legal entity, fund or trust details
2. Verification and issuance

Step 1: Start your application

To begin the application process:

• Create or log in to your account with RapidLEI. Like domain names, we use Accounts to prevent unauthorised transfers and make sure your LEI remains secure:
  • Login
  • Create new RapidLEI account
• Start the LEI registration process by clicking New LEI. Enter your legal entity’s basic information (legal name, country of registration, address, entity type). If you are applying for an LEI for a fund or trust, select during the application.
• Provide an authorised representative’s contact details: this may be the applicant if legally authorised to represent the company or could be onward delegated to such an individual if this is not the applicant.
• Choose the length of the LEI, noting that even though under GLEIF mandates that LEIs must be renewed annually, choosing multi-year LEI will automate the renewal process, again like a domain name.

RapidLEI’s automated system will find and pre-fill this information from official business registries, reducing manual entry.

Step 2: Confirm key reference data

Once the basic details are entered:

• You’ll be asked to confirm or correct the legal entity, fund or trust reference data. This is the official information that will be linked to your LEI, known as the LE-RD or Legal Entity Reference Data.
• This includes the entity’s legal name, address and registration identifiers

Accurate reference data ensures your LEI is valid for regulatory reporting, counterparty identification and compliance purposes.

Step 3: Provide relationship data (if applicable)

In cases where your organisation, fund or trust is part of a corporate group, you may be asked to supply additional information about corporate relationships, such as parent entities or ownership structure. This data supports Level 2 reference data, which describes connections between entities when available.

Learn why binding Level 1 and Lebel 2 identity data is important.

Step 4: Verification

After submission, the RapidLEI systems and expert staff will verify the information provided:

• Automated checks against official business registries
• Manual checks where registry data is not accessible or requires validation

Verification ensures the entity exists and that all reference data is correct per global LEI standards.

Step 5: Issuance, publication and timelines

Once verified:

• Your LEI code is issued
• The LEI is published to the global LEI index and becomes publicly searchable
• You will receive confirmation by email and details in your account with your LEI code

In most cases, LEIs from RapidLEI are issued rapidly, often within minutes or hours, although exact timing can vary by jurisdiction and entity type. Your account will always show the latest status of your application and what is happening next. Contact support should you have any questions.