On 26 February 2026, the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) published its updated report on harmonised ISO 20022 data requirements for cross-border payments. ISO 20022 is the leading international standard for the electronic exchange of financial messages between banks and financial institutions – making it significant that the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) has been integrated as a globally standardised and publicly accessible identifier.
The inclusion of the LEI in this central, global standard is a clear signal of the continued and growing importance of the LEI in international finance.
Key findings of the report at a glance:
- For financial institutions, the BIC remains the minimum standard – however, the LEI is explicitly recommended as a complementary identifier.
- For corporates, the report recommends supplementing name and address data with an LEI wherever possible.
- The LEI is directly linked to improved straight-through processing, more efficient validation, and greater transparency in payments.
In the context of FATF Recommendation 16, the report positions the LEI as part of a future-proof compliance strategy.
