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Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Requirements for Financial Institutions and Non-Financial Businesses

According to the text, the following financial institutions and non-financial businesses and professions are subject to anti-money laundering (AML) requirements:

Financial Institutions

  • Banks and investment firms: Engage in activities that involve the transfer of funds or the execution of transactions.
  • E-money businesses: Provide electronic money services, such as digital wallets or prepaid cards.
  • Undertakings for collective investment: Market their unit certificates or units to investors.
  • Insurance undertakings: Provide insurance products and services.
  • The Liechtensteinische Post Aktiengesellschaft: Pursues activities subject to an obligation to report to the FMA.

Non-Financial Businesses

  • Exchange offices (including Trustworthy Technology (TT) exchange service providers): Exchange currencies or other assets for customers.
  • Insurance brokers: Facilitate insurance transactions between clients and insurers.
  • Payment service providers: Process payments on behalf of merchants or individuals.
  • Asset management companies: Manage investment portfolios for clients.
  • Providers of certain services for legal entities: Offer services such as company formation, registration, or incorporation.

Additional Entities

  • Casinos and providers of online gaming: Operate casinos or offer online gaming services.
  • Lawyers and law firms: Provide tax advice or assist in the planning and execution of financial or real estate transactions.
  • Members of tax consultancy professions and external bookkeepers: Engage in activities related to tax consulting or accounting.
  • Real estate agents: Facilitate property transactions between buyers and sellers.
  • Persons trading in goods: Involve cash payments for transactions exceeding CHF 10,000.
  • TT service providers: Operate various services, such as:
    • Publicly offering tokens in their own name or on behalf of clients (token issuer)
    • Safeguarding tokens or keys that allow disposal over tokens for clients (depositary)
    • Exchanging legal tender against crypto-assets and vice versa, as well as crypto-assets for other crypto-assets (exchange service provider)
    • Receiving tokens with the condition to dispose of them at their own discretion or on behalf of clients but retransferring tokens after a certain period (token loan company)
    • Operating trading platforms for crypto-assets (trading platform operator)
    • Managing portfolios under mandate from clients, which include one or more crypto-assets, or offering personalized recommendations to clients regarding transactions related to crypto-assets or the use of crypto-asset services (administrator for crypto-assets)
    • Initiating disposal of one or more crypto-assets from one TT Identifier to another on behalf of customers (transfer service provider)
  • TT Agents: Distribute or provide TT services in Liechtenstein on a professional basis in the name and account of foreign TT service providers.
  • Operators of trading platforms for non-fungible tokens
  • Persons trading or acting as intermediaries in the trade of artworks, where transactions exceed CHF 10,000.
  • Persons who hold third-party assets in safe custody on a professional basis and rent out premises and containers for the safekeeping of valuables.

AML Requirements

The following requirements apply to entities subject to AML:

  1. Identification and verification of the identity of the contracting party
  2. Identification and verification of the identity of the beneficial owner
  3. Identification and verification of the identity of the recipient of distributions from legal entities established on a discretionary basis, and the beneficiary of life assurance policies and other insurances with investment-related objectives
  4. Establishment of a business profile
  5. Supervision of business relationships at a level commensurate with the risk.

Additional Requirements

Entities subject to DDOs shall conduct timely risk-adequate monitoring of their business relationships, including transactions processed during the business relationship, in order to ensure that the business relationship history and transactions are consistent with their knowledge of the customer and the customer’s business relationship, thus complying with the business profile to be prepared in accordance with Art. 8 SPG.