01 · Product name
GLEIF LEI search
Look up a Legal Entity Identifier.
Published by GLEIF.
In short
GLEIF's LEI search is the public lookup for Legal Entity Identifiers. On 18 Oct 2026 the search view said it was showing 3,465,910 results as of 2026-10-18T08:00:00Z before a name was applied. The record for LEI 2138002P5RNKC5W2JZ46 named TESCO PLC, status current, policy conforming as of that same golden-copy time. The GLEIF API returned the same LEI with registration status ISSUED and country GB. An LEI identifies a legal entity in that index. It does not prove who controls the company today.
Product pricing strategy
02
Free
The LEI search page and the record for TESCO PLC did not print a price, a credit, or a signup wall on 18 Oct 2026. The public API answered a legal-name filter without a key. GLEIF also publishes bulk golden-copy and delta files from its data pages. This listing did not open a checkout for those files and does not invent a fee. If a commercial redistributor sells a cleaned copy, that price is the redistributor's. Cite GLEIF for the record you opened and the as-of time on it. Do not describe the 3,465,910 line as a fee, a customer count, or the size of one company's group.
Utility and features
03
The LEI search application at search.gleif.org is the page GLEIF publishes for looking up a Legal Entity Identifier. The record opened for 2138002P5RNKC5W2JZ46 displayed the legal name TESCO PLC and the line Policy Conforming as of 2026-10-18 08:00:00+00:00. The same timestamp appears on the search view as the as-of time for an unfiltered result count of 3,465,910. That count is the index size the page printed. It is not the number of companies named Tesco. The public GLEIF API, asked for the legal name TESCO PLC, returned 11 records. The first was that LEI, registration status ISSUED, country GB. The second was 213800DJFYY7MSLDKD28 for TESCO TREASURY SERVICES PLC, status RETIRED.
- One LEI, one record. 2138002P5RNKC5W2JZ46 resolved to TESCO PLC, ISSUED, GB, policy conforming as of 2026-10-18 08:00:00Z.
- Index count is not a name search. The search view said 3,465,910 results as of that same timestamp before a name filter. The API returned 11 for the legal name TESCO PLC.
- Retired records stay in the index. 213800DJFYY7MSLDKD28 for TESCO TREASURY SERVICES PLC came back RETIRED. It is not the PLC's current LEI.
GLEIF's own site describes the LEI as the identifier for a legal entity and publishes Level 1 data, who is who, and Level 2 data, who owns whom, as separate files. This listing opened the search record. It did not download the golden copy. A relationship record, when you open one, is the parent's report of a link. It is not a share register you re-counted. The search page offers CSV, JSON, XML, and XLSX export of the results on screen. Export the filter you set, and write the as-of time next to the file.
- 1
Search the legal name, then open the record whose status is ISSUED.
- 2
Write the LEI and the golden-copy time next to any quote.
- 3
Treat a relationship link as Level 2 data and read the exception file if the parent is blank.
Caveats
04
An ISSUED LEI is a registration status in the index. It is not a certificate that the company's officers, address, or owners are current. The Tesco PLC record was policy conforming as of the golden-copy time printed on the page. A later challenge can change it. The retired LEI for TESCO TREASURY SERVICES PLC is a different record. Do not merge the two because the names share a word.
The unfiltered 3,465,910 figure is the search view's index count. The API's 11 hits are the legal-name filter TESCO PLC. Quote the filter with the number. Level 2 relationship data is a separate file from the Level 1 record this listing opened. A missing parent on the record you saw is not proof that no parent exists.
Screenshots
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Potential use cases
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- You have a legal name and need the current identifier. Search TESCO PLC, then open the record whose status is ISSUED. On 18 Oct 2026 the API returned 11 hits for that name. LEI 2138002P5RNKC5W2JZ46 was TESCO PLC, country GB. The next hit, 213800DJFYY7MSLDKD28, was TESCO TREASURY SERVICES PLC and RETIRED. Write the LEI you mean, not the shared word.
- A slide quotes 3,465,910 as the number of Tesco companies. That figure was the unfiltered search view as of 2026-10-18T08:00:00Z, before a name was applied. The Tesco PLC legal-name filter was 11 records. Put the filter next to the number. The same timestamp is the golden-copy time on the ISSUED record, which said policy conforming.
- A parent company is missing from the Level 1 page and someone wants to call that proof of no owner. Level 2 relationship data is a separate file. This listing opened the TESCO PLC record and did not download the golden copy. A blank parent on the page you saw is not a share register. Say which file you opened.
Hard cases
The case where the first result is easy to over-read.
A retired LEI is filed as current
The legal-name filter TESCO PLC returned both an ISSUED record and a RETIRED record on 18 Oct 2026. TESCO TREASURY SERVICES PLC is not TESCO PLC. Copy the 20-character code, the registration status, and the golden-copy time into the note. If the status is RETIRED, say so in the same sentence as the name.
Practitioners using it
Posts on X from people describing a concrete use. The quote is the post. Likes and reposts are the counts saved with it, not a live total. A label marks a creator, a maintainer, a vendor, a partner, a data partner, or an investor.
@GLEIF ( https://t.co/th1X6TVOz1 ) + Search for Name or Legal Entity Identifier (LEI Number) + Status (Active/Lapsed) ++ Find Legal and Headquater Adress (sometimes different!) +Map Function +Parent and Child Companies listed 5/5 🦭- Points (6/?) pic.twitter.com/8XmTWIgyeo
It's great to see https://t.co/uWPGsQHsUi emerge out of beta. @CFPB and @Polygon_Rsearch use LEI to disambiguate lenders with identical names to show, as @GLEIF puts it, who is who. https://t.co/96T4LxycsX
Questions
Is GLEIF LEI search free?
The search record and the public API opened on 18 Oct 2026 did not ask for a price or a key. Quote the record you opened, not a reseller's rate card.
Does an LEI prove control?
The Level 1 record names the entity. Who-owns-whom is Level 2 relationship data. This listing opened the Tesco PLC Level 1 record and did not treat it as a share register.
Citations
07
Titled sources. These public pages are what the quotes on this listing come from.
Product
GLEIF LEI search
https://search.gleif.org/Documentation
GLEIF LEI records API
https://api.gleif.org/api/v1/lei-records?filter%5Bentity.legalName%5D=TESCO%20PLC