Mifid redux? Esma insists on LEIs for repo collateral

Mifid-style ruling will bar firms from using securities without identifiers in financing transactions

European regulators are turning to an old trick to boost the adoption of legal entity identifiers (LEIs) – a ‘barcode for finance’, designed to improve trade reporting.

Less than two years after it banned European firms from trading with counterparties that did not have LEIs, the European Securities and Markets Authority is taking a similarly hard line with securities financing transactions (SFTs).

In April 2020, European banks and asset managers must begin reporting details of their SFTs to