Legal entity identifiers

National company registration numbers, sometimes known as business identification numbers, are unique identifiers assigned to businesses by the relevant government registration authorities at the time of registration. The characteristics of these numbers can vary greatly depending on the specific jurisdiction’s policies and laws, but there are some common features:

The registration number is crucial for verifying entities during Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures. It allows for the precise identification of an entity, facilitating the collection and analysis of relevant data. As such, it’s not only an indispensable element in the KYC API datasets but also a key search parameter. The KYC API provides real-time, direct searches in company registers via the registration number. Although name searches can be helpful, in some cases they may yield ambiguous results and fail to definitively identify an entity, particularly with non-Latin characters or imperfect name search capabilities offered by the registers. Therefore, a number search is preferred to a name search.

The new identifiers in Switzerland, for example, the UIDs, are randomly allocated and do not contain any information about the enterprise, unlike the previous CH-ID identifier system which contained a code for the canton. The Swiss UID is made up of the country code ‘CHE’ and nine digits. In the UK, the company registration number (CRN) is an 8-digit numeric or alphanumeric code. For example, English and Welsh companies have 8-digit CRNs, beginning with 0 or 1; Scottish companies have CRNs that begin with the letters ‘SC’, followed by 6 digits; Limited liability partnerships have the letters ‘OC’ followed by 6 digits, etc. In Germany the commercial register identifier consists of the respective court, the section of the register (limited liability or personally liable structures), and the individual number. The number portion of the identifier itself is only unique when related to the court and the section of the register.

At certain points in time, some jurisdictions, like China and Switzerland, and most recently Hong Kong, transition completely to new identification systems. In some jurisdictions, like Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, legacy numbers, which are tied to location or legal form, are being gradually replaced by unique national identifiers, and both identifiers still co-exist. In other jurisdictions companies are assigned more than one unique identifier, usually for different purposes. For example, in Italy each company has a tax code (Codice Fiscale) and a business registration number (Numero Repertorio Economico Amministrativo). In Australia all companies, regardless of legal form, have an ABN (Australian Business Number), while some legal forms are also assigned an ACN (Australian Company Number). In the United States all companies will have a state-issued identifier from the state authority where they are registered, but most likely they will also have an Employer Identification Number (EIN) issued on the federal level by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). In addition to that, listed companies are assigned a Central Index Key (CIK) by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

While we aim to bring in all the different identifiers in the KYC API datasets, either as additional or as old identifiers, we only map one identifier as the official registration number. However, as in some jurisdictions, like Italy and Poland, tax identification numbers are very pervasive, and the registers allow for this functionality, we also enable searching by the tax identifier.

In many cases, the registration authority issues separate registration numbers for branches or locations, which are linked to the unique entity number. For example, in France a SIREN number, a unique nine-digit identifier, is assigned to each legal entity upon registration. In addition to that, a unique SIRET number, a 14-digit identifier that contains the nine-digit SIREN number of the company plus a 5-digit code, is issued to each business location or factory. This means that a company with multiple locations will have one SIREN number, but multiple SIRET numbers. Similarly, in the Netherlands branches are registered under the same register number as the parent company, but they are assigned a unique branch number, or “vestigingsnummer“, to distinguish it from other branches and from the main location of the business. The vestigingsnummer is a 12-digit number, where the first 9 digits are the same as the number of the parent company, and the last 3 digits are unique to the branch.

There are a few multilateral initiatives for global unique entity identifiers, including the EU-ID and the LEI [Legal Entity Identifier]. The LEI is a unique 20-character alphanumeric identifier assigned to legal entities participating in financial transactions. The LEI system is designed to create a global reference data system that uniquely identifies every legal entity or structure, in any jurisdiction, that is party to a financial transaction. KYC API connects in real time to the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation to not only source LEIs, but to also offer an LEI validation service, which includes the LEI issuance and renewal dates.

For a list of national identifiers, we have mapped as official registration numbers please consult this file. Our team of experts are always happy to support you with any questions related to company identifiers.