The LEI code plays a central role in Europe’s new European Business Wallet — a harmonised digital identity tool for EU businesses. The European Union is reshaping how businesses prove who they are, sign documents, and interact with authorities across borders. The LEI (Legal Entity Identifier, a unique global identifier for legal entities) is key to making that work in practice.
What is the European Business Wallet?
The European Commission published its proposal for the EBW regulation in November 2025 (COM(2025) 838). The goal is straightforward: reduce administrative burden for businesses and make cross-border operations inside the EU faster and simpler.
With an EBW, a company can carry out the following actions digitally, with full legal effect across all 27 EU Member States:
- Verify its own identity and check counterparty data in real time
- Create, store, and share verified documents such as licences, permits, and certificates
- Sign and timestamp documents electronically
- Issue mandates so others can act on the company’s behalf
- Communicate with other businesses and public authorities through a secure channel
Public authorities must accept EBW-based identities by law. Companies, however, choose whether to use the wallet. EU-wide adoption is expected to begin from 2028 onwards.
Where does the LEI code fit in the European Business Wallet?
The EBW regulation proposal lists the LEI code as one of the attributes a company can store in the wallet, alongside VAT numbers, the EUID (European Unique Identifier, an EU-wide identifier assigned to companies in national business registers), and other verified data.
GLEIF (Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation, the international organisation that oversees the global LEI system) has actively recommended that Member States make the LEI a mandatory wallet attribute, not an optional one. The reason is practical: without the LEI, the EBW cannot fully serve companies that operate in financial services. The LEI connects compliance requirements across onboarding, payments, capital markets, transaction reporting, and anti-money laundering into a single trusted identifier — not just within the EU, but globally.
Furthermore, embedding the LEI in the EBW opens the door to the vLEI (verifiable Legal Entity Identifier, a cryptographically verifiable version of the LEI). This enables automated and high-assurance identity verification, which is particularly relevant for digital assets, supply chain ecosystems, and automated B2B (business-to-business) transactions.
EUID and LEI: Different Identifiers, Different Scope
The EBW uses the EUID as its primary identifier. However, the EUID only works within the EU. The LEI, by contrast, is a global standard that regulators and authorities recognise worldwide.
A company operating only within the EU can rely on the EUID. A company making cross-border payments, trading on capital markets, or entering contracts outside the EU needs the LEI. DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act, the EU’s digital resilience framework for financial entities) already shows how both identifiers work side by side: EU-based ICT providers can use the EUID, while providers outside the EU must hold an LEI.
In short, the two identifiers do not compete. They complement each other.
Why the LEI Matters Now, Not Just When the EBW Arrives
The EBW is still taking shape as a regulation. The LEI code, however, already carries legal weight across multiple regulatory frameworks today.
If your company trades securities, MiFID II (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, the EU framework governing investment services and securities trading) requires a valid LEI — without one, investment firms cannot execute the trade. Under EMIR (European Market Infrastructure Regulation, the EU framework for derivatives markets), companies must report derivatives transactions using an LEI. DORA requires financial institutions to identify their ICT service providers with an LEI. The AML (Anti-Money Laundering, the regulatory framework for preventing financial crime) framework uses the LEI as part of customer due diligence. In addition, the ISO 20022 payment messaging standard supports LEI inclusion in cross-border payment messages.
As a result, preparing for the EBW by registering an LEI is not an extra step. In many sectors, it is already a requirement.
What this means for your business
Europe’s business identity infrastructure is going digital. The EBW will bring a new standard for how companies identify themselves, share documents, and conduct transactions across the EU.
Companies that already hold an active LEI code are a step ahead. Registration takes just a few minutes and the LEI is issued almost immediately.
Register your LEI code today and be ready for the future of European digital business identity.