Joint industry letter on the reporting of issuer LEIs under SFTR
8 March 2021 ICMA, in association with ISLA, AFME, and AMAFI sent a joint communication to ESMA, various NCAs, and the FCA to reiterate concerns around the lack of availability of Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs) for issuers outside of Europe. The letter was sent ahead of the end of a 12-month forbearance period in April for the reporting of non-EEA issuer LEIs that had been granted by ESMA. As part of the letter the associations submitted the results of a joint study joint study to quantify the gap in the issuer LEI coverage for active ISINs. Although the industry has been trying proactively to help encourage LEI issuance, in some major non-European markets the gap is still very significant. The letter proposes possible solutions and seeks further guidance on the issue from ESMA.