Join Making Finance Work for Africa (MFW4A) and the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) for a webinar unpacking the key to unlocking financial inclusion in developing economies: The Legal Entity Identifier (LEI).

This webinar will showcase the results of an international flagship project designed to expand financial inclusion among SMEs, especially on the African continent. The project was launched with the support of the German Federal Government through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH as a collaborative initiative between the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF), the Centre for Financial Regulation and Inclusion (CENFRI), Cornerstone Advisory Plus, Zimbabwe’s NMB Bank Limited and London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).

Background

The project aimed to strengthen financial inclusion in Africa by supplying LEIs to SMEs and enabling them to apply for trade finance and establish contractual, regulated agreements with banks, payment networks and trading partners, leading to broader access to financial services and greater participation in both domestic and international markets.

By working with African banks to enable them to issue LEIs, the project not only addresses this challenge but also aims to reduce the compliance burden associated with stringent KYC/CDD requirements. Today, this overhead routinely prevents banks from lending to new African SMEs due, in large part, to ID validation and verification difficulties. Using the LEI for identifying legal entities in cross-border trade could also enable banks to significantly reduce both cost and effort in data reconciliation.

Read the report on the pilot study of the introduction of Africa’s first LEI agent and issuing of Africa’s first LEI to an MSME here.

Register here and join our Masiiwa Rusare for an informative and interactive session.