Legal framework
For every FinTech company, it must be clarified whether the intended activity falls within the scope of the Liechtenstein anti-money-laundering law (Due Diligence Act; SPG) and whether the activity may be subject to the licensing requirement.
Due Diligence
Due diligence legislation serves to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. Its scope extends on the one hand to all licensed financial intermediaries such as banks, asset managers or insurers, and persons subject to no licensing requirement under financial market legislation such as real estate brokers or traders in goods.
In addition, the following TT service providers are subject to the Liechtenstein Due Diligence Act (DDA; Sorgfaltspflichtgesetz, SPG):
- Token Issuers subject to registration;
- TT Depositaries;
- TT Exchange Service Providers;
- Token Lending Undertakings;
- TT Trading Platform Operators;
- TT Crypto-Asset Managers;
- TT Transfer Service Providers
- TT Agents subject to registration obligation if they provide or distribute TT services for the aforementioned TT service providers.
Furthermore, the due diligence of traders in goods has been extended such that the trader is subject to the DDA also when accepting virtual currencies or tokens equivalent to CHF 10,000 as payment for goods.
A complete list of all persons subject to due diligence can be found in Article 3 SPG.
Licensing and registration requirements
The name of fintech projects already refer to the financial market. Whether registration/licensing with the FMA is required or not is not always clear here.
If you are unsure whether your business model contains a TT service it is recommended to submit a subordination enquiry with the FMA.
Additional questions
The FMA and its competence team are happy to answer any questions at fintech[at]fma-li.li. The FMA supports and accompanies FinTechs during the licensing process. The FMA also actively seeks out contact with innovative financial service providers and offers a constructive exchange.
As a supervisory authority, however, the FMA is unable to offer general legal advice or an evaluation of business models in regard to their market readiness or in regard to risks and opportunities.