BNP Paribas has become the latest global financial institution to be approved as a validation agent in the Global LEI System.
The addition marks the first global systemically important bank (G-SIB) headquartered in the European Union to join the validation agent programme, says the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF).
The framework was developed to enable banks and other regulated institutions to use their know-your-customer (KYC) and client onboarding procedures to help clients obtain legal entity identifiers (LEIs).
According to GLEIF, the programme allows validation agents to improve their corporate client onboarding experience, accelerate client lifecycle management processes, and improve internal data management.
The programme has been live for over two years, and more than 15 validation agents operate globally.
BNP Paribas provides Corporate and Institutional Banking (CIB) clients with an LEI, and aims to ensure the long-term efficacy of new processes by providing data accuracy.
By diversifying how LEIs are utilised by both the bank and its clients, it creates opportunities to use the standardised global business identity system in a range of use cases, where counterparty verification is required, GLEIF confirms.
These use cases include cross-border payments, KYC and anti-money laundering (AML), external provider matching, and digital identity applications.
Goulven Charlès, chief data officer at BNP Paribas CIB, says: "Assuming the role of validation agent marks our commitment to promoting greater trust and transparency between global businesses.
“As part of our continuous data efforts, we are deploying the LEI, thereby delivering value for our clients and across BNP Paribas CIB.”
GLEIF CEO Stephan Wolf adds: “The validation agent role was designed to offer a multitude of benefits to any financial institution that engages corporate clients.
“In addition to the value derived from the role, BNP Paribas has a clear opportunity to evolve how LEIs are used, both in response to compliance mandates, and more broadly to facilitate greater transparency between organisations around the world to support the fight against financial crime.”
