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The Conciliation Board

What is the purpose of the Conciliation Board?

Pursuant to the Ordinance on the Financial Services Conciliation Board (Finanzdienstleistungs-Schlichtungsstellen-Verordnung, FSV) (Liechtenstein Law Gazette [LGBl.] 2009 No. 279 in the currently valid version) the extrajudicial Conciliation Board has jurisdiction for the resolution of disputes between financial services enterprises such as asset management companies, banks, securities firms, payment service providers, electronic money issuers, management companies, trustees or trust companies, and clients from countries outside the European Economic Area. Therefore, it only has jurisdiction with regard to clients without a domicile in an EU member state or other EEA member state, so that since 01.07.2017 this jurisdiction only still applies to clients from Switzerland, European countries which do not belong to the EU or the EEA, or from outside Europe.

Since 01.07.2017 the same extrajudicial Conciliation Board also has jurisdiction pursuant to the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act (Alternative Streitbeilegungs-Gesetz, AStG) (Liechtenstein Law Gazette [LGBl.] 2016 No. 516) and the rules of procedure of 23.01.2018, approved by the government for this purpose, concerning disputes between consumers from an EU or EEA member state and an enterprise of any kind established in Liechtenstein in the financial services sector if this relates to a claim arising from a contract for valuable consideration which does not involve health services, public providers of further and higher education, non-economic services of general interest or contracts for sale of immovable property.

The Conciliation Board is available as a neutral mediation agency, which is free of charge for clients lodging a complaint, except for a contribution of CHF 50.00 towards costs in cases to which the AStG is applicable. It deals with specific complaints which are submitted by clients from countries outside the EU/EEA against institutions in the financial services sector mentioned in the FSV or, in AStG cases, against enterprises of any kind in the financial services sector, taking into account the abovementioned exceptions.

An essential prerequisite for an efficient and recognized conciliation board is its independence from institutions which may possibly be affected.

The Conciliation Board replaced the institution of the Banking Ombudsman on 30.10.2009. However, its sphere of activity covers a considerably broader spectrum of institutions. Apart from banks, it is also responsible for investment firms, asset management companies, payment service providers, trust companies, professional trustees and insurance brokers.

For the period from 01.1.2022 to 31.12.2025 the government appointed as Conciliator the attorney at law Dr. Peter Wolff, Vaduz, who had previously also officiated as Banking Ombudsman since April 2005.