Look up a legal entity's LEI record via the GLEIF API
domain: gleif.org · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
Sampled — shipped under file-level sampling, not individually fact-checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Steps
The GLEIF API is free and requires no API key or registration; send requests to https://api.gleif.org/api/v1/
Search by legal entity name with GET /api/v1/lei-records?filter[entity.legalName]={name} (URL-encode the name); results are paginated using JSON:API pagination conventions with page[number] and page[size] parameters
Look up a known LEI directly with GET /api/v1/lei-records/{lei} to retrieve the full record including entity.status (ACTIVE, INACTIVE, ANNULLED), entity.legalAddress, and entity.registrationAuthority details
Follow relationship links in the response to retrieve the entity's direct parent (GET /api/v1/lei-records/{lei}/direct-parent) and ultimate parent for corporate hierarchy mapping
Use the registration.nextRenewalDate field to detect lapsed LEIs; an LAPSED status means the entity may still exist but has not renewed, which is a KYC/KYB red flag
Known gotchas
A single GLEIF API request returns up to 200 records; implement pagination for broad name searches to retrieve the full result set
Entity names stored in GLEIF are in the legal registration language and character set; transliterated name searches may miss records — combine with BIC code or registration number filtering when available
LAPSED LEIs indicate non-renewal, not necessarily corporate dissolution; corroborate with the relevant national business registry before making a compliance determination
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