Country Manual Private Banking
Liechtenstein
out of Bank’s Country of Establishment (Def, RS, BT & RT)
| Source of changes | Answers |
|---|---|
| Law / Regulation | Yes |
| New Position of the Authorities | No |
| Evolution of Expert’s Interpretation | Yes |
Regulatory Template, Regulatory Summary and Behaviour Template
Material changes
After a comprehensive revision of the Liechtenstein financial market laws, which includes a complete overhaul of the Banking Act, a revision of the Investment Firms Act, and the revision or introduction of other new Acts and Ordinances, BRP updated the Country Manual to reflect the changes where appropriate.
While the impact of the revision of the Liechtenstein legislation is mainly an update of the legal basis in the manual without a change in the general cross-border approach, the most relevant development concerns the concept of reverse solicitation:
The Investment Firms Act now provides an explicit legal basis for the concept of reverse solicitation relating to investment services. According to the interpretation of local counsel, it is deemed that the reverse solicitation principle stated expressly for foreign investment firms also applies to a foreign bank providing investment services to Liechtenstein clients if the respective conditions are fulfilled.
For the provision of banking services, on the other hand, no such provision has been introduced in the revised Banking Act. The reason for this omission is unclear, in particular in light of the concept of reverse solicitation having been (informally) recognised by the authorities in the past and because the concept of reverse solicitation is expected to be formally implemented into Liechtenstein law with the transposition of CRD VI. While it is believed under local interpretation that the foreign bank should be able to rely on reverse solicitation for its banking services, note the related risks, as there are no formal rules, guidance or official position concerning the application of the reverse solicitation principle to a foreign bank’s banking services.
The Behaviour Template now reflects these developments, and, in particular, no longer includes the condition of “no formal rule” for reverse solicitation for investment services.
Moreover, we added information on the new option for third-country firms with their registered office in the UK to (actively) provide investment services to Liechtenstein professional clients upon notification.
Non-material changes
Some comments and content have been slightly reworded (without introducing material changes), and additional references to applicable law/regulation have been made in order to provide more clarity and to reflect the regulatory situation/current interpretation of the regulatory framework more accurately. Further non-material changes have been made throughout the documents.
Impact on cooperation with third parties
Based on local counsel’s input, we put more emphasis on the fact that an agreement to cooperate with a local third party could be viewed by the Financial Market Authority (FMA) as a targeted approach to the local market, which could potentially preclude reliance on the reverse solicitation exception. Each element of a cooperation agreement could be considered a targeted approach to the Liechtenstein market, and each case should be evaluated on its own merits. Therefore, any activity that is based on a cooperation agreement, e.g., the delegation of activities to a local third party, must be considered a grey area, also in the context of reverse solicitation.
BT Short Comparison
This document allows users to quickly identify the modifications made compared to the previous version of the PB Manual (BT Short Comparison). The BT Short Comparison can be found on BRP’s platform (mybrponline) in the Search tab by entering in the Document Field “CM PB BT SHORT COMP” and “LIECHTENSTEIN” in the Target Country Field.
The BT Short Comparison should be read as follows:
The first column contains a short description of the activity in question. The second column contains the answers of the previous version of the Country Manual (online until the day of the alert). The third column contains the new answers of the most recent version of the Country Manual. Only the modified answers are displayed (in color). If the answers in the new version are unchanged compared to the previous version, they are shaded in grey.
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Geneva, July 14th, 2025