Fintech 2026

LIECHTENSTEIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Christian Inmann and Markus Stelzl, Inmann Stelzl & Partner Attorneys at Law Partnership

privacy-by-design principles ensure that data sharing supports innovation without compromising customer protection. Regulatory oversight is shared between the FMA for PSD2 compliance and the Data Protec - tion Authority for GDPR enforcement.

A recurring theme is deception about regulatory authorisation, where fraudulent platforms falsely claim supervision or legitimacy to induce payments or asset transfers. The FMA also highlights investment and crypto-related fraud, often linked to misleading online platforms and cross-border schemes. Overall, supervisory attention is concentrated on fraud that exploits trust in regu - lation, licensing and digital channels, with a strong emphasis on consumer warnings and prevention. 12.3 Responsibility for Losses In Liechtenstein, a fintech service provider may be responsible for customer losses depending on the nature of the service, the applicable regulatory regime, and the cause of the loss. Liability arises under a com - bination of contract law, financial market regulation and tort law, with a strong focus on compliance obli - gations. • Under PSD2, providers are typically required to reimburse customers for unauthorised payment transactions, except where the customer acted fraudulently or with gross negligence. • Under MiCAR, custodians of crypto-assets are liable if a client incurs a loss that can be directly attributed to its actions or failures.

12. Fraud 12.1 Elements of Fraud

In Liechtenstein, fraud in the context of financial ser - vices and fintech is primarily defined under criminal law, complemented by financial market regulation and supervisory enforcement. Misleading disclosures, misuse of client assets and deceptive token offer - ings may trigger criminal liability as well as regulatory sanctions by the FMA. The use of new technology does not exempt actors from fraud rules, reflecting a substance-over-form approach. 12.2 Areas of Regulatory Focus The FMA is particularly focused on unauthorised finan - cial and crypto-asset service providers, clone and impersonation scams and phishing attacks, including cases where fraudsters misuse the name or branding of licensed firms or the FMA itself.

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