Toronto – Surecomp today announced that it is partnering with the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) – the Swiss-based organisation which supports the implementation of the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) and the availability of the Global LEI Index – to facilitate Know your Customer (KYC) compliance and provide customers with immediate certainty and authentication that the credentials of their trade counterparts are verified and trustworthy.
The Global LEI Index – the only online source of open, standardised and high-quality legal entity reference data – will be embedded into all of Surecomp’s cloud-based solutions to provide customers with real-time access to the unique identification data of legal entities participating in their trade finance transactions. The readily available and verified information covering detail such as ownership structure and subsidiary addresses will reduce the time currently spent by financiers and corporates on KYC checks as part of the transaction lifecycle, further improving operational efficiencies and driving trade growth.
“We are delighted that Surecomp is leveraging the Global LEI index to bring significant efficiencies and greater trust to its trade finance customers,” states Stephan Wolf, Chief Executive Officer at GLEIF. “Research undertaken by GLEIF shows that broader adoption of legal entity identifiers could save the banking sector up to $4bn in client onboarding costs annually. Even if only a small proportion of this is within the trade finance arena, the potential gain in terms of both cost and time savings are significant enough to promote further global trade growth.”
“The LEI is incredibly important for all trade participants, particularly since the pandemic which has seen fraudulent transactions become ever more prevalent,” says Enno-Burghard Weitzel, Surecomp’s SVP of strategy and business development. “Offering our customers easier access to LEI data is increasing transparency, trust and efficiency in the entire trade finance process. Ultimately, it can also help to close the trade finance gap by making it easier for banks to verify SME customers.”
