GLEIF Taps Trusted Entity Data to Streamline Cross-Border Payments

Cross-border payments remain hampered by inconsistent legal names, addresses and entity-status records across jurisdictions, languages and systems. The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation, or GLEIF, says the Legal Entity Identifier can link payment participants to verified, regularly updated reference data. Embedding that information in ISO 20022 messages could reduce manual checks, improve payee verification and help banks, payment providers and financial intelligence units automate compliance and processing.

In an analysis published April 9, 2026, GLEIF said 95.6% of valid LEI records contained names and addresses in Latin script as of March 31, while 79.5% used a standardized ASCII character set. Those coverage rates provide a base for automated conversion into ISO 20022-compliant structured or hybrid address formats. Financial institutions, payment service providers and data vendors can deploy the mapping capability at low cost using the Global LEI System’s freely available reference data, open API and open-source code.