Effective enforcement helps to stabilize the Liechtenstein financial sector

The Financial Market Authority (FMA) of the Principality of Liechtenstein has presented its Economic Report 2023. As detailed in a press release, the Liechtenstein financial sector has remained stable despite a series of international challenges. This development has been supported by the effective enforcement of the regulatory authority, the report states. In this way, market abuse has been curbed and customers protected. In the reporting period, the FMA was forced to open 88 administrative proceedings or administrative criminal proceedings, while a total of 192 ongoing proceedings or preliminary investigations were concluded. In total, fines in the amount of 1,489,500 Swiss francs were imposed for violations of banking law, market manipulation, insider trading or transactions involving clone companies. In one individual case, a fine amounting to 500,000 Swiss francs was imposed on a legal entity.

Furthermore, nine criminal complaints were lodged with responsible public prosecutor’s office, which were submitted due to suspicion of market abuse, suspicion of accepting deposits without the necessary authorization, suspicion of insider trading and unlawful disclosure of insider information, concealment of material facts, suspicion of fraud in connection with a clone company, suspicion of violation of trademark protection and activity without registration (in accordance with the Token and Trusted Technology Service Provider Act (TVTG), previously known as the Blockchain Act), the press release explains further.

In addition, the FMA has been tasked with further developing financial market regulations on behalf of the government. It has drawn up new regulations in relation to securities trading, as well as in the areas of digitalization and crypto-currencies trading. A revised version of the Financial Market Act is scheduled to be finalized by January 1, 2025. ce/ww