Liechtenstein — Country Risk Report

Liechtenstein (Europe • Western Europe). Risk report as of the 19 Jun 2026 FATF plenary.

Low country risk. Liechtenstein's country risk score is 2.7/10, placing it in the low-risk band. The principal driver is weak voice and accountability. Liechtenstein is not currently FATF grey- or black-listed. Liechtenstein is not subject to comprehensive country-wide sanctions.

Recommended treatment

Standard due diligence.

At a glance

  • FATF status: Not currently listed (one indicator only; it does not set the overall country risk rating by itself)
  • Comprehensive country sanctions: none identified. Targeted sanctions exposure: possible, screen applicable persons, entities and sectors
  • Government effectiveness and rule of law: 1.6/10
  • Corruption (CPI): no score
  • Enforcement data: not yet assessed (no RegActions coverage)

Country Risk Score: 2.7/10 (Low)

Higher score means higher country risk (global average 4.6). Full information available. Strong data coverage. Enforcement activity and CPI are shown for context but do not change the score.

All three parts of the score are available.

How this score was calculated

  • Financial crime controls: 4.4/10 — 50% of this score
  • Government effectiveness and rule of law: 1.6/10 — 30% of this score
  • International sanctions: 0.0/10 — 20% of this score

International sanctions contributes 0.0 because the complete UN, UK, EU and US review found no direct country-level sanctions programme. People or organisations connected to the country may still appear on sanctions lists.

Show the exact calculation

aml 4.4 × 50% + governance 1.6 × 30% + sanctions 0 × 20% = 2.7; final 2.7

Principal risk drivers

  • Government effectiveness and rule of law drive the score; no FATF listing or direct country-level sanctions were identified

Mitigating factors

  • Not currently on the FATF grey or black list.
  • No comprehensive country-wide sanctions programme.
  • Comparatively stronger political stability (0.7/10).
  • Overall governance and institutional quality are relatively strong.

Business impact

  • Customer onboarding (Low): Additional ownership and control verification may be required.
  • Payments and transactions (Low): Review transaction purpose, counterparties and geographic routing.
  • Trade and export activity (Low): Screen goods, end users and potential dual-use exposure.
  • Corporate clients (Low): Assess state ownership, government links and political exposure.
  • Ongoing monitoring (Low): Apply alerts for ownership changes, sanctions and geopolitical developments.

Recommended controls

  • Verify ultimate beneficial ownership using more than one reliable source.
  • Identify state ownership, government influence and politically exposed persons.
  • Screen entities, directors and beneficial owners against applicable sanctions lists.
  • Apply enhanced review to technology, defence, telecommunications, financial services and dual-use activity.
  • Document transaction purpose and source of funds where cross-border structures are complex.
  • Escalate unresolved ownership opacity or adverse information to Compliance.

Enhanced due diligence triggers

  • State ownership / control
  • PEP involvement
  • Sensitive / restricted sectors
  • Opaque ownership
  • Adverse media
  • Dual-use goods & technology
  • High-risk intermediary routing

FATF status: Not currently listed

Liechtenstein is not on the FATF grey or black list as of the 19 Jun 2026 plenary.

Source details

International sanctions by issuing body

  • UN: No
  • EU: No
  • UK: No
  • US: No

No means the complete UN, UK, EU and US review found no direct country-level programme. People or organisations may still appear on sanctions lists.

Government effectiveness and rule of law (World Bank 2024, percentile)

  • Government Effectiveness: 84/100
  • Regulatory Quality: 79/100
  • Rule of Law: 87/100

Regulators and legal framework

FATF network

FATF network via MONEYVAL.

Last mutual evaluation: 2022 · report

National regulators

Regulator profiles not yet available on RegActions.

FIU: Egmont Group member (EFFI)

Framework signals

  • FATF listing: Not currently listed
  • International sanctions: no listed programme identified
  • Corruption (CPI): no score
  • Rule of law (WGI): 1.7/10 risk

Sector exposure

  • Banking & payments (Low): No FATF listing, rule-of-law governance within normal range
  • Trade & export controls (Low): No sanctions programme or FATF black-list constraint identified
  • Crypto & virtual assets (Low): No FATF listing, accountability governance within normal range
  • Real estate & luxury assets (Low): Corruption indicators within normal range for high-value assets
  • State-linked & procurement (Low): Political-stability and corruption governance within normal range

Derived from sanctions tier, FATF listing, World Bank WGI governance and CPI; no per-sector dataset is asserted.

Liechtenstein: analysis

Liechtenstein's profile reflects uniformly strong governance. Corruption (weighted 35%) and rule of law and institutions (weighted 40%) are both very low risk and together carry 75% of the governance weight. Political stability (strong) is the outstanding result. Voice and accountability (strong) is the comparatively weakest domain but remains well within low-risk territory. No FATF listing or sanctions apply. No CPI data is published for Liechtenstein, but the WGI governance picture is consistently strong. Its upper-tier standing on the World Bank governance indicators confirms Liechtenstein's position as one of the best-governed financial centres in the dataset.

Outlook

Liechtenstein's small, highly regulated financial centre operates within a framework shaped by EEA membership, FATF compliance and bilateral agreements with the European Union. The risk profile is stable and well-anchored institutionally. Firms should apply standard, proportionate due diligence for Liechtenstein counterparties. The principal area requiring ongoing attention is the jurisdiction's role as a private wealth management hub, where beneficial ownership transparency and source-of-wealth verification remain important irrespective of the low base risk.

Key watchpoints

  • Maintain source-of-wealth and beneficial ownership scrutiny for private wealth management relationships, consistent with the jurisdiction's financial centre profile.
  • Monitor EEA and FATF compliance developments that may affect Liechtenstein's regulatory obligations.
  • Track any future supervisory actions or regulatory changes in the Liechtenstein Financial Market Authority's framework.
  • Review the indirect risk profile of any structures routed through Liechtenstein where ultimate beneficial owners are in higher-risk jurisdictions.

Assessment currency

  • FATF status: Not listed (as of 19 Jun 2026)
  • Sanctions exposure: None identified (as of Jul 2026)
  • Governance (WGI): Latest dataset incorporated (as of 2024)
  • Corruption (CPI): Not available (as of 2025)
  • RegActions assessment: Reviewed (as of 19 Jun 2026)

Public evidence layer

FATF action: none. No FATF call-for-action or increased-monitoring status was identified at the latest plenary. This does not establish low risk.

Contextual signals (not scored)

  • FATF network membership: FATF regional network: MONEYVAL (present, as of 2026-07)
  • EU non-cooperative tax jurisdictions: Not listed in Annex I (absent, as of 2026-02-17)
  • Egmont Group FIU: EFFI (present, as of 2026-07-17)
  • Beneficial-ownership register: No live register identified in the source (unavailable, as of 2026-07-17)
  • Transparency International CPI: No CPI result available (unavailable, as of 2025)

Evidence freshness

  • FATF monitored-jurisdiction status: current; data 2026-06-19
  • FATF mutual evaluation and follow-up ratings: current; data 2026-07-31; follow-up 2022-07; base assessment 2022-07
  • World Bank governance indicators: current; data 2024
  • UN, UK, EU and US sanctions regimes: current; data 2026-08-13

Contextual signals are public evidence only and do not change the immutable v2 score.

Download evidence PDF · CSV · JSON

Regional peer scores

FAQ

Is Liechtenstein on the FATF grey list?

No. Liechtenstein is not on the FATF grey or black list as of the 19 Jun 2026 plenary. FATF listing is one AML indicator; absence from the list does not by itself make Liechtenstein low risk. The next FATF plenary review is scheduled for Oct 2026.

Is Liechtenstein subject to sanctions?

No country-level programme was identified. In the approved RegActions snapshot, no comprehensive or targeted country-wide sanctions programme was found for Liechtenstein, but individual listed persons may still exist, so firms should continue to screen counterparties against the applicable lists.

What is Liechtenstein's country risk rating?

RegActions rates Liechtenstein at 2.7/10 (Low risk), where a higher score means higher country risk. The score combines financial crime controls, government effectiveness and rule of law, and international sanctions.

What due diligence applies to Liechtenstein?

Standard due diligence. This is decision-support based on Liechtenstein's FATF status, governance and sanctions signals, and is not a substitute for a firm's own risk assessment.

Source: FATF black & grey lists · World Bank WGI (CC BY 4.0 — World Bank WGI) · TI CPI (CC BY-ND 4.0 — Transparency International, display only)