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tegwick 0741a2e3a5 Deepen beneficial ownership and registry identifier research; resolve canon questions

Add source notes on FinCEN CDD/BOI beneficial ownership and ISO 6523/ALEI
registry identifier subtypes. Resolve OpenQuestions: Beneficial Ownership
Relationship as dedicated type; Registry Identifier and Proxy Commercial
Identifier as Reference layer specializations. Update glossary, conceptual
model, terminology, downstream recommendations, and corpus index.

2026-06-21 21:45:02 +02:00

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LEI and GLEIF Legal Entity Identifier

Source Type

Standard and registry. ISO 17442 Legal Entity Identifier; GLEIF global LEI index.

Domain

Regulated financial markets, legal entity identification, and ownership transparency.

Why This Source Matters

LEI is the post-2008-crisis global standard for identifying legal entities in financial transactions. It encodes who and who owns whom, making it a canonical example of commercially binding identity with regulatory renewal requirements.

Key Concepts

LEI: 20-character ISO 17442 identifier for a legal entity.
Legal entity (LEI scope): organization participating in financial transactions; individuals cannot obtain LEI.
GLEIF: Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation; oversees LOUs and data quality.
LOU (Local Operating Unit): issuer/registrar for LEIs in a jurisdiction.
Level 1 data: business card data — legal name, address, jurisdiction.
Level 2 data: ownership — direct and ultimate parent relationships.
Renewal: LEI valid one year; annual renewal required for continued use.
Regulatory mandate: 45+ jurisdictions require LEI for certain financial reporting.

Relevant Terminology

Term	Source meaning
LEI	Legal Entity Identifier code.
Legal entity	Juridical person in financial markets.
Level 1	Entity reference data.
Level 2	Parent/ownership reference data.
GLEIF	Global LEI system operator.
LOU	Local issuing organization.
Renewal	Annual reaffirmation of LEI validity.
Regulator reporting	MiFIR, derivatives reporting, etc.

Modeling Assumptions

LEI identifies legal entities only, not natural persons or login accounts.
Ownership is first-class in LEI Level 2 (parent chains).
Identity persistence is maintained by renewal, not immutability of business facts.
Public global directory enables counterparty verification.
LEI does not prove good behavior; it proves identifiable legal presence.
One LEI per legal entity for global financial identification.

Identity-Canon Implications

LEI maps to Registry Identifier (scheme: 0199, authority_class: regulatory_global, renewal_required: true) for Legal Entity / Organization actors.
Level 2 parent data maps to Ownership or structural Organization relationships.
LEI record maps to Commercial Record or authoritative Identity Record with registry Evidence Source.
Renewal maps to Lifecycle State on Identifier/Commercial Record.
LEI exemplifies commercial binding: regulatory participation requires stable, renewed legal identity.
Distinct from DUNS (credit/commerce) and from OIDC sub (authentication).

Terminology Conflicts

Legal entity (LEI) vs. Legal Entity (canon): aligned when jurisdictionally recognized.
Legal entity vs. Organization: not every organization has LEI; LEI subset is regulated finance participants.
LEI vs. company registration number: national registry ID vs. global LEI.

Candidate Canonical Mappings

LEI concept	Candidate canonical concept
LEI code	Registry Identifier (regulatory_global, ICD 0199)
Legal entity	Legal Entity / Organization
Level 1 data	Commercial Record / registry Profile
Level 2 parent	Ownership Relationship
GLEIF registry	Evidence Source (authoritative)
Annual renewal	Lifecycle State maintenance
LOU issuance	Issuer Scope + Trust Relationship

Open Questions

Synonymity strength when linking LEI to DUNS or national company reg numbers.

Resolved (see registry-identifier-subtypes.md)

Authoritative and proxy registry IDs → Registry Identifier subtype with authority class and renewal lifecycle.

References

ISO 17442 — https://www.iso.org/standard/78829.html
GLEIF, Introducing the LEI — https://www.gleif.org/en/about-lei/introducing-the-legal-entity-identifier-lei
Wikipedia, Legal Entity Identifier — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_Entity_Identifier

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