An official of the US Treasury Department's Office of Financial Research (OFR) has been selected to be chair of an international committee overseeing the launch of the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI), a global standard for financial data.
Matthew Reed, OFR chief counsel since March 2012, was named chair of the Regulatory Oversight Committee (ROC) for the global LEI system.
Reed took on the post at the inaugural meeting of the ROC last week in Toronto, which included global authorities from more than 50 countries and jurisdictions. Vice chairs were elected from the Japan Financial Service Agency and Banque de France.
OFR director Richard Berne, comments: "The selection of the ROC chair and vice chairs signals that the LEI is moving forward quickly with engagement across countries and market sectors, and will serve as a template for future standardisation efforts."
The LEI is a code that uniquely identifies parties to financial transactions and is designed to provide financial companies and market regulators with a better view of true exposures and counterparty risks across the world's financial system.
The ROC as a stand-alone body has taken over the responsibility for the leadership and direction of the global LEI project from the Financial Stability Board ahead of a planned March 2013 start-date.