What is my old employer called today?

Our connector can tell you. Give the resolve_employer tool the name on your old payslip, and it looks that exact name up in official registers, starting with the Global LEI Index, and says in one sentence what the employer is called now: renamed, merged, or still registered under the same name. Every answer names the register it came from and the date we read it. On 13 October 2026 it told us that StatoilHydro ASA is now registered as EQUINOR ASA. This lookup arrived in version 1.2.0 of our connector, which is free and needs no sign-in. We store anonymous counts of the countries asked about, never names or contact details.

Why does the name an employer has today matter?

Old payslips, contracts and letters carry the name the employer used at the time. Registers, schemes and authorities work with the name and the identifier the company holds now. When a company has been renamed or has merged since you left, the old name can lead nowhere, and knowing the current one is often the first step in asking the right institution.

How does the connector work it out?

resolve_employer does two things with an employer name.

First, it reads the country the name points to, from evidence in the name itself: a country or city, a nationality word, or a national legal form such as ASA, Oy, Oyj, B.V. or GmbH. Where a legal form is used in several countries, it returns the candidate countries instead of guessing.

Second, it looks the exact name up in official registers. The Global LEI Index, run by the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF), comes first, followed by a national register that records a chain of successors where one is available. The answer is one of these:

• renamed or merged, with the name the register holds now;
• still registered under that name;
• ambiguous, when several registered entities carry that exact name, and the connector chooses none of them;
• not found;
• unavailable, when a register could not be read in time.

It also names the official register of occupational pension funds for the employer's country, where we hold one. It reads legal entities only, never people.

What did the connector say about StatoilHydro ASA?

We sent the name StatoilHydro ASA on 13 October 2026. The connector placed it in Norway because "The name carries the legal form ASA." Its answer on the name today read, word for word: "StatoilHydro ASA is now registered as EQUINOR ASA."

It gave the source as "GLEIF, Global LEI Index" and the read date as "13 October 2026". For the country it added: "Occupational pension funds in Norway are listed in Virksomhetsregisteret API (licence types PRIVPENKAS, KOMMPENKAS, PENFOND), published by Finanstilsynet."

We checked the register ourselves the same day. The GLEIF record OW6OFBNCKXC4US5C7523 gives the legal name EQUINOR ASA, an active status and a legal address in Stavanger, and lists STATOILHYDRO ASA as a previous legal name (Source: GLEIF, read 13 October 2026).

What did it say about Oy Nokia Ab?

For Oy Nokia Ab the connector read the legal form Oy and placed the name in Finland. It returned: "Oy Nokia Ab is now registered as Nokia Oyj, a change recorded on 1 September 1997."

This time the source was the Finnish national register: "Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH), Business Information System (YTJ)", read "13 October 2026". The PRH open data record for business ID 0112038-9 lists the name Oy Nokia Ab from 10 June 1966 to 31 August 1997 and Nokia Oyj from 1 September 1997 (Source: PRH open data, read 13 October 2026).

Finland is not one of the countries we cover, and the connector's answer says so. The register lookup works all the same.

What did it say about Bell Canada?

We sent the short name Bell Canada. The connector placed it in Canada from the country name and returned: "Bell Canada is now registered as The Bell Telephone Company of Canada or Bell Canada."

The source was "GLEIF, Global LEI Index", read "13 October 2026". For the country it added: "Occupational pension funds in Canada are listed in Who we regulate: federally regulated private pension plans list, published by Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI)."

This example shows why the exact register name matters. GLEIF holds an active record, 5493000G3EFX9S7TDE29, under the legal name The Bell Telephone Company of Canada or Bell Canada, with a legal address in Verdun. An older, retired record, 549300O5ZKB2MUUSKB97, lists Bell Canada as its previous legal name (Source: GLEIF, read 13 October 2026). The everyday name and the registered legal name are not the same, and an institution may hold the longer one.

What does the answer not tell you?

It does not tell you which pension scheme you were in, or that you were a member of any scheme. A current company name is a fact about the company, not about you. The scheme that was open while you worked there may not be the one the company runs today, and who holds a former employee's record now differs from case to case.

Naming the scheme, who administers it today and how to reach them is the work in our reports. The connector stops at what the registers say.

How do I ask the connector?

In Claude, ChatGPT or another assistant with our connector switched on, ask in plain words, for example: What is Oy Nokia Ab called today? Our connector page has setup steps for each assistant.

Developers can call the tool directly at https://mcp.pensionhunter.ai with a JSON-RPC tools/call request:

{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"resolve_employer","arguments":{"name":"Oy Nokia Ab"}}}

Give the name with its legal form and city where you know them. That helps the country reading, and the register match is made on the exact name.

Frequently asked questions

Which registers does the connector read? The Global LEI Index first, then a national register with a successor chain where one is available, such as the Finnish Patent and Registration Office's YTJ in the Nokia example. Every answer names the register it used and the date we read it.

Does it store the employer names I send? No. The connector is anonymous. We store anonymous counts of the countries asked about, never names or contact details. To answer, our server looks the employer name up in the official registers; no other input goes to a third party.

What if two companies have the same name? The connector answers ambiguous and chooses neither. Adding the city or the legal form helps.

Does a renamed employer mean my pension moved too? Not necessarily. A rename or a merger is a fact about the company. Where a former employee's pension sits now depends on the scheme and the period, which is why the connector does not name a scheme.

Is this financial advice? No. We identify and research. We give no financial advice and take no percentage of anyone's pension.

Sources

PensionHunter connector, resolve_employer, version 1.2.0, called at https://mcp.pensionhunter.ai on 13 October 2026, for every quoted answer above.

GLEIF, Global LEI Index, records OW6OFBNCKXC4US5C7523, 5493000G3EFX9S7TDE29 and 549300O5ZKB2MUUSKB97, read 13 October 2026.

Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH), open data for business ID 0112038-9, read 13 October 2026.