LSE Reveals Details of Pre-LOU to Be Launched on July 31

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is planning to launch its pre-Local Operating Unit (pre-LOU) utility on July 31, which will include a consolidated view of data from other pre-LOUs and will allow pre-legal entity identifier (pre-LEI) records to be transferred between pre-LOUs.

The LSE, which is a National Numbering Agency, became the first pre-LOU in the UK in June and will use its UnaVista matching and reconciliation platform to allocate its pre-LEIs, which it is calling Interim Entity Identifiers (IEIs).

During a Global Financial Markets Association webinar about the LEI, Emma Kalliomäki, the LSE's London-based head of SEDOL masterfile, said the LSE is anticipating going live with its pre-LOU utility on July 31, but added there is still a possibility the launch date might change.

"I want everything to be perfect before we go live, so it does depend on us meeting all of the finer points that we are trying to achieve before we open the solution," said Kalliomäki.

According to Kalliomäki, the LSE has integrated data from the two other pre-LOUs which are currently in operation – the CFTC Interim Compliant Identifier (CICI) utility and the German Entity Identifier (GEI) utility. This means that it will be possible to use the IEI utility to search and retrieve records for both CICIs and GEIs. Kalliomäki says it will be possible to search the database by inputting any data fields associated with a pre-LEI record.

The IEI utility has been set up to allow users to move pre-LEIs from one pre-LOU to another, but the LSE is waiting for confirmation from the LEI authorities on how this process should be carried out before configuring its system accordingly.

"From a pre-LOU point of view, it is quite important that we are aligned as much as possible to allow for the consistent use and consumption of the data," said Kalliomäki. "On that basis we are still waiting for confirmation and those recommendations to come through regarding a standardized framework."

The LSE is currently introducing functionality to enable credit card payments for individual IEI requests and Kalliomäki said there will also be an "invoicing-style process" for bulk submissions. However, IEI codes will not be made available until they have been paid for. "No IEI or pre-LEI will be released on the database until we have validated the record, although you would be able to search and find the entity and see that it is pending allocation," said Kalliomäki.

The IEI utility will be operated on a cost-recovery basis, with an initial registration fee of £150 plus value-added tax (Vat) and annual maintenance charge of £100 plus Vat. The initial registration fee for bulk applications of 10 or more entities will be £100 plus Vat.

Counterparties with a reporting requirement under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation are required to use pre-LEIs, such as the IEI, and Kalliomäki said the LSE is receiving inquiries about its utility on a daily basis. "We are anticipating that when we do go live at the end of the month, we are going to be dealing with requests immediately," she added.