According to the latest news on Oct 20, Contour, the digital trade finance network has joined hands with the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) to empower the utilization of Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs) within its network and also to financially aid its participants in getting their own LEI.
Getting the reliable & established universal entity identifier will boost much more confidence in Contour’s members when it comes to transacting with their trading counterparties. Plus, it is also helpful in decreasing data reconciliation costs, limited transaction errors, and enhancing risk management.
The LEI, facilitated by GLEIF, is a 20-character ISO 17442 code that gives businesses a unique identity to be used across markets and jurisdictions. The code is associated with annually evaluated business reference information and proprietorship structure data about a legal entity in an uninhibitedly available online registry - the LEI index. It can be faster verified by anyone at any time, empowering firms to know definitively who they are working with. The evaluated company information that is being provided by LEI results in more prominent trust and perceivability in the marketplace between trade members.
As trade turns out to be more globalized, it has become more complex for businesses to correctly identify data related to the parties they trade with. The process of getting this type of information is usually a great deal of work demanding a critical interest in time, money & resources.
Contour’s association with GLEIF and the adoption of the LEI will empower users of this platform to address this issue by standardizing the data involved in business transactions. The incorporation of the LEI into Contour’s digital network will enable trading parties to leverage enhanced data reliability and integrity, establishing a more straightforward trading environment.
According to Aaron Seabrook, Chief Operating Officer at Contour, “Standardisation of identity is an essential initiative in empowering firms to uninterruptedly engage in multiple, complementary trade networks without experiencing authoritative hindrances. At Contour, we put our endeavors into making trade finance more accessible by organizing connections between trade parties. Our association with GLEIF will assist us to get this by preparing clients of our organization with the data they need to execute with certainty.”
As per Stephan Wolf, Chief Executive Officer at GLEIF, “Expanding LEI volumes in trade finance and widening their utilization in the supply chain will address the issue of reliability in financial transactions across the world. Evaluated legal entity identification, which must be acknowledged all around across worldwide boundaries by LEI utilization, is a central part of a well-working global supply chain ecosystem. LEI usage will also help make trade finance an essential task more accessible to SMEs by aiding to narrow the so-called “trade finance gap” and would also spur feasible economic development.”
As per Oswald Kuyler, Managing Director at ICC DSI, “The ICC is focused on supporting trade inclusion and enabling small firms to access leading banks and international trade players. We, consequently welcome Contour's organization with GLEIF and anticipate perceiving how the consideration of the LEI will aid businesses on Contour’s network to widen their participation in both domestic and international markets.”
Contour will keep impacting its use of LEI in the upcoming months, operating with its partners on new APIs, constructing it into its KYC processes, and teaming on the GLEIF-led Verifiable LEI (vLEI) initiative.
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