On April 6, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that legal entity identifiers (LEIs) of non-EEA third country issuers will not need to be reported under the UK version of the European Union’s Regulation on reporting and transparency of securities financing transactions (UK SFTR), until at least April 13, 2022.

Under Article 4 of the UK SFTR, reporting counterparties must use LEIs to identify entities when submitting transaction reports under the UK SFTR.

In January 2020, ESMA granted 12 months of forbearance from the entry into force of EU SFTR reporting requirements for the reporting of LEIs of non-EEA third country issuers under the reporting technical standard. Although the industry has made progress to encourage more extensive LEI coverage among non-EEA third country issuers, the FCA acknowledges that there continues to be many non-EEA third country issuers without an LEI.

The FCA stated that the extension of the period during which reports under the UK SFTR without the LEI of a non-EEA third country issuer will be accepted should help to reduce market disruption. The FCA expects reporting counterparties to continue engaging with non-EEA third country issuers to obtain an LEI. It also expects reporting counterparties to report an LEI for non-EEA third country issuers where available.

The FCA webpage.