Super Fast Corporate Verification Process

Corporate verification is normally a waiting game. Submit the documents, wait for someone to read them, and then wait for a decision. At most, this process takes a couple of days, while for a company whose paperwork is already in order, it is a matter of minutes.

The reason behind the speedy process is the LEI. A Legal Entity Identifier is a twenty-character code that identifies a company to regulators and counterparties anywhere in the world. Since January 2018, EU investment firms have generally needed an LEI from their legal-entity clients before executing transactions covered by MiFIR reporting rules. Getting one means having the company's reference data verified against official registers, including ownership relationships where those are recorded, which is a large part of the work a corporate identity requires.

Global FinReg is a global LEI specialist and the Identity Provider (IDP) for corporate identity on Concordium. As such, Global FinReg can turn the LEI directly into a verified on-chain identity, with no second verification process in between.

Global FinReg describes three different scenarios for companies:

• If a company’s LEI code is already with Global FinReg, it will receive a Concordium corporate identity immediately.
• If a company does not have an LEI code, an LEI can be issued in as little as one hour, and the identity verification can be done immediately afterwards.
• If a company’s LEI is with a different provider, it can be moved to Global FinReg in a matter of 3-5 days, after which time the identity verification can be completed.

For a business that does not need an LEI code, you can still apply for an identity. Global FinReg reviews the registration documents, confirms the beneficial owners or the people authorised to act for the company, and verifies their personal identification. This makes the turnaround time for an identity verification roughly twelve hours.

In comparison, a full corporate onboarding at a bank usually takes 90 to 120 days.

The whole process starts inside the wallet rather than on a website. Companies can use Concordium’s own wallet or supported third-party wallets and custody infrastructure, such as Bitcoin.com, Ledger and Dfns. The service is available globally.

"Since the LEI code has already verified what a corporate identity has to establish: namely which legal entity it is and verified it against official registers, a company does not need to conduct a second verification. Once the company has been verified, the same identity can cover its employees, as well as the AI agents acting on its behalf." David Silverman, Founder, Global FinReg

None of the KYB paperwork goes on-chain. Personal data will never appear on the chain in any form, encrypted or otherwise, and stays offline with the Identity Provider. The chain only carries identity disclosure data, which no single party can decrypt on its own. The Identity Provider knows which company it verified, but not what that company does on-chain.