The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) has announced a new partnership with Chinese business information platform Qichacha (QCC) aimed at enhancing the international visibility and discoverability of Chinese companies. Under the initiative, certified links will be established between Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs) and QCC Codes, enabling Chinese businesses to better participate in global trade networks. The partnership will support the publication of monthly open-source relationship files mapping LEIs to QCC Codes, providing a new tool for transparency and due diligence in cross-border transactions.
This collaboration builds on GLEIF’s ongoing efforts to develop comprehensive digital identification systems for organizations worldwide. QCC, established in 2014, operates a database of more than 500 million Chinese legal entities and joined GLEIF’s Vendor and Services Providers Relationship Group in February 2024. While the platform’s primary focus is on China, its reach extends to data on companies in over 200 countries and regions, positioning it as a major player in global business information services.
“We are focused on making the LEI a truly global standard by linking it to identification schemes across jurisdictions in Asia, Africa, and Latin America,” said Alexandre Kech, CEO of GLEIF. “This certified mapping supports users of QCC products to move from national and regional identification schemes to a global identifier that is used extensively in financial services and trade globally.”
The initiative follows GLEIF’s broader expansion efforts in Asia, including the recent approval of Hong Kong-based Certizen Technology as a Qualified vLEI Issuer and the earlier authorization of Shanghai-based BOCOM Fintech to adopt the LEI system. The vLEI, or Verifiable Legal Entity Identifier, represents a cryptographically verifiable digital credential that extends the LEI framework, allowing for automated and secure verification of organizations and their representatives. Its use cases are growing in industries such as healthcare, education, and blockchain-based systems, supporting broader digital trust ecosystems.
By linking LEIs to QCC Codes, the partnership offers several advantages for businesses and investors, including streamlined due diligence processes, improved regulatory reporting efficiency, and strengthened trust in cross-border commercial relationships. The LEI system itself, based on the ISO 17442 standard, assigns each legal entity a unique 20-character, alpha-numeric code that serves as a universal identifier across financial markets and trade ecosystems.
QCC CEO Jing Yang emphasized the importance of the partnership for Chinese companies, stating, “By aligning with the Global LEI System, we are providing our customers seamless cross-border connectivity and trust to foster new trade and growth opportunities.”
The GLEIF–QCC initiative is part of a larger strategy to improve interoperability across global data systems. GLEIF has established similar certified mapping services with organizations such as SWIFT, ANNA, and S&P Global, linking LEI data to major industry identifiers like the Market Identifier Code (MIC), Bank Identifier Code (BIC), and International Securities Identification Number (ISIN). These efforts reflect a growing trend toward open, standardized, and accessible business identity systems worldwide.
Currently, more than 2.8 million LEIs have been issued globally, covering entities responsible for an estimated 80 percent of global trade value. Through partnerships like this, GLEIF aims to further expand the adoption of the LEI and vLEI frameworks to support secure, transparent digital economies. The new QCC mapping files will be made freely available in open-source CSV format, enabling businesses, financial institutions, and regulators to integrate them easily into their existing compliance and verification processes.
Sources: GLEIF, Securities Finance Times
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April 25, 2025 – by the ID Tech Editorial Team
