Playing Gotcha With LEI

We've seen a lot of developments this week in legal entity identifier (LEI) world—the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) agreeing on the ISO 17442 standard for the LEI, which marks a positive for progress; the FSB setting a March 2013 deadline for implementation of an LEI system; and the delay of Swift and DTCC's plans for a provisional LEI Utility Portal—a small step backward following those steps forward. But the root of that portal delay is at the feet of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Who would have thought European and global standards bodies, utilities and organizations would have their act together, reach agreements, make decisions and take action before a single US entity did?

Just a week or two ago, it seemed the FSB had draped a veil over the LEI standard by pushing ISO to remove Swift as registration authority. The different authorities may be jockeying for position in the run-up to the G-20 possibly making its own pronouncements or decision about the LEI when it meets on June 18.

Either way, the FSB, ISO, Swift and DTCC appear to have hit the ball back into the CFTC's court. Since the CFTC set up its own interim identifier, expecting the decision-making to take a lot longer, has the US regulatory authority been taken by surprise?