Why U.S. Financial Data Has Long Been Fragmented
U.S. federal financial regulation has historically operated in silos. Different regulators used different systems, different formats, and different identifiers for the same entities. During the 2008 financial crisis, regulators discovered they could not quickly identify which market participants were exposed to failing counterparties, because the data simply did not connect.
Congress wrote the FDTA (Financial Data Transparency Act, the U.S. law requiring uniform machine-readable standards for financial reporting) to fix this. In December 2022, Congress passed the act, directing a group of nine federal financial agencies to establish common data standards.
What Was Decided in June 2026
In June 2026, the agencies published the final joint rule, which takes effect on October 1, 2026. The SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission), FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency), the Fed (Federal Reserve System), NCUA (National Credit Union Administration), CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau), FHFA (Federal Housing Finance Agency), CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission), and Treasury (U.S. Department of the Treasury) issued the rule jointly.
As a result, the rule established the LEI code (Legal Entity Identifier, a global identifier for legal entities in financial transactions), managed by GLEIF (Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation), as the single common legal entity identifier across all covered agencies. Regulators across dozens of jurisdictions worldwide already rely on the LEI and the agencies concluded it best meets the FDTA’s requirements: open-licensed, nonproprietary, and applicable to all legal entity types.
However, the agencies considered one alternative but rejected it. The BIC (Bank Identifier Code, the international identifier used in banking) covers only banking sector entities and does not meet the FDTA’s requirement to identify all financial entities.
What This Currently Requires — and What It Does Not
It is important to be precise here.
The joint rule itself does not change any existing reporting requirements. In fact, the agencies confirmed explicitly that no reporting requirements change on the effective date without further action from each agency.
This means the LEI is not yet mandatory for all U.S. businesses under the FDTA. Instead, each agency will publish its own individual rulemaking in Phase 2, where the actual obligations take shape. These rulemakings must take effect no later than two years after the final joint rule, which points to around 2028. Consequently, Phase 2 will answer the key questions: which specific reporting requirements include the LEI, and which entities need to obtain one.
Why This Still Matters
Even without an immediate obligation, the decision itself is significant. U.S. law now recognizes the LEI as the single standard around which the entire federal financial data infrastructure takes shape.
This affects two groups of businesses.
First, U.S.-regulated entities that report to the SEC, FDIC, CFTC, or other covered agencies should expect the LEI to become part of their reporting requirements. Phase 2 will clarify the timing and scope.
Second, any business operating in U.S. financial markets or working with U.S.-regulated counterparties faces the same logic. When a U.S. partner, platform, or financial institution starts requiring an LEI, those who already have one will be ready.
LEI registration takes just a few minutes and the code is issued almost immediately. If you already have an LEI, check that it is active. A lapsed code will not pass any reporting system.
The Global Picture
The FDTA is not an isolated development. In fact, EU regulations including EMIR (European Market Infrastructure Regulation), MiFIR (Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation), and the ISO 20022 standard for cross-border payments already require the LEI. As a result, the U.S. joining this list signals that the LEI is becoming the global foundation for business identity in financial markets.
Businesses operating across borders can use a single LEI to satisfy multiple regulatory requirements at once.
Register your LEI or renew your existing code if it is approaching expiry.