LEI issuers for UK companies and what they charge
An LEI is issued and renewed by an LEI issuer, also called a Local Operating Unit (LOU), that the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) has accredited. On 14 November 2026 GLEIF listed 23 issuers as accredited for the United Kingdom, and on 13 November 2026 UK entities held 95,220 active LEIs.
The table lists every issuer that manages at least one in a hundred of those LEIs, the largest first, with the price it published on its own website for a new LEI and for a one-year renewal. Each price is in the currency the issuer shows it in, so some are in pounds and others in euros or US dollars. It is a list of published prices, not a ranking: issuers differ in what the price includes, in whether tax is added and in how they price longer terms.
What each issuer charges
| LEI issuer | New LEI | Renewal |
|---|---|---|
| London Stock Exchange (LSEG)48,653 active LEIs (51%)Prices exclude tax. | £65 | £50 |
| Ubisecure (RapidLEI)22,527 active LEIs (24%)LEI Universal registers LEIs with this issuer. | £50 | £50 |
| Bloomberg Finance (Bloomberg LEI)10,705 active LEIs (11%)Prices exclude tax. | $60 | $40 |
| EQS Group (LEI Manager)5,314 active LEIs (5.6%)Prices exclude tax. | €49 | €69 |
| Nasdaq CSD (Nasdaq LEI)4,638 active LEIs (4.9%) | €79 | – |
| WM Datenservice (WM Leiportal)1,382 active LEIs (1.5%)Prices exclude tax.LEI Universal registers LEIs with this issuer. | €69 | €59 |
One LEI for one year, as each issuer’s own website priced it on 14 November 2026. Issuers are listed by the number of active LEIs they manage for entities in this country. A dash means no price could be read on the issuer’s website that day, and not every issuer says whether tax is added. The issuers have not reviewed or endorsed this page. Prices change: check the issuer’s own page before you order.
Guides to single issuers
Which issuers you can use
You are not tied to an issuer based in your own country. GLEIF states that an entity can use any issuer accredited for its jurisdiction, so a UK company can register with the London Stock Exchange, with an issuer based abroad, or through a registration agent that works with an issuer. GLEIF lists every issuer and the countries it is accredited for.
Every accredited issuer issues the same identifier under the same GLEIF rules and publishes it in the same global index, so an LEI is worth the same whoever issued it. What differs is the price, how renewal is handled and the service around it.
LEI Universal is a registration agency, not an issuer. We take your application, renewal or transfer, and the LEI is issued by a GLEIF-accredited issuer we work with: WM Datenservice or Ubisecure (RapidLEI). Both are marked in the table where they appear. Our own prices are on the pricing page.
Moving an LEI to another issuer
An LEI can be moved from one issuer to another. The LEI itself does not change: only the issuer that maintains the record does, and the record names the new issuer once the transfer is complete.
You apply to the issuer you want to move to, not to the one you are leaving. The new issuer asks the current one to release the record, and the current issuer may ask you to confirm that the request is yours.
GLEIF’s contract requirements for issuers say that an entity may ask for its LEI to be transferred to another issuer and that no fee is charged for the transfer. The issuer you move to may charge its renewal price if the LEI is renewed at the same time. How a transfer works, step by step.
Your LEI stays the same when you change issuer. See our prices
Transfer an LEIFrequently asked questions
Is an LEI from one issuer better than an LEI from another?
No. Every accredited issuer issues the same ISO 17442 identifier under GLEIF’s rules and publishes it in the Global LEI Index. A bank or a regulator checks the LEI and its status, not who issued it.
Can a UK company use an issuer outside the UK?
Yes. GLEIF states that an entity is not limited to an issuer in its own country and can use any issuer accredited for its jurisdiction. On 14 November 2026 GLEIF listed 23 issuers as accredited for the United Kingdom.
Does it cost anything to change issuer?
GLEIF’s contract requirements for issuers say that no fee is charged for the transfer itself. The issuer you move to may charge its own renewal price if the LEI is renewed at the same time.
Sources
- LSEG: Legal Entity Identifier (LEI)
- RapidLEI: LEI price
- Bloomberg LEI: Frequently Asked Questions
- EQS LEI Manager: Prices
- Nasdaq LEI
- WM Leiportal: Preise
- GLEIF: Get an LEI: Find LEI Issuing Organizations
- GLEIF Master Agreement, Appendix 5: LOU-Contract Requirements (PDF)
- GLEIF Golden Copy, published 13 November 2026 (CC0). Entities are counted by the country of their legal address.