ISITC Europe Panel: ‘Entity ID to Be Announced Soon'

The much-discussed international business entity identifier is soon to be announced, according to a panel of speakers at the ISITC Europe conference in London today.

There have been a variety of groups working on creating an entity identifier for many years, and most firms will also have their own internal identifiers. But following the financial crisis, there has been growing awareness of the need for one global standard for identifying entities to help mitigate risk.

Regulators now appear to be working together across borders, and there is a sense that there will be co-operation in terms of which identifier they will support. Panelists said the decision seems to have been made, and the announcement could come any day now.

The expectation is that regulators will ask firms to use the chosen identifier, which panelists suggested is built on an existing standard, for transaction reporting purposes.

Audience members also supported the fact that it is now possible to reach an agreement on business entity identification. In a poll, 68% of conference-goers said a globally acceptable business entity identifier is achievable in two to five years.

Although panelists said the standard announcement is likely to be made earlier than this, the implementation time is a different issue, and it is too early to predict how long that process will take.