Alternative investment funds on the rise
The number of Liechtenstein funds increased in the first half of the year. CHF 69 billion in net assets were managed as of June 2022.
In total, 565 funds were based in Liechtenstein as at the end of June 2022. At 321 funds, alternative investment funds form the largest subgroup. The net assets invested in funds of this type have increased by 2.5 percent to around 69 billion Swiss francs in comparison with year-end 2021.
The number of Liechtenstein-based funds increased by nine in the first half of 2022, the Financial Market Authority (FMA) Liechtenstein writes in its report on the development of the Principality’s fund sector over the first six months of 2022. In specific terms, FMA analysts counted 565 individual and collective funds as at the reporting date of June 30, 2022. These can be broken down into 321 alternative investment funds (AIFs), 225 Undertakings for the Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) and 19 investment firms.
The assets managed by the Liechtenstein-based funds amounted to 69.09 billion Swiss francs as at the end of June. Compared with year-end 2021, this corresponds to a decrease of 1.19 billion or 1.69 percent. This decline can be attributed to UCITS in full. The value of these fell by 6.2 percent to 31.90 billion Swiss francs. In contrast, the value of AIFs increased by 2.5 percent to 36.69 billion Swiss francs during the reporting period. An increase of 5.9 percent to 0.5 billion Swiss francs was recorded for the small group of investment firms.
As at the reporting date at the end of June, the entire assets of the Liechtenstein funds were held in custody at a total of nine banks and one trust company. With an overall share of 60.8 percent of the total fund assets, LGT Bank stands out in this regard. According to the FMA, other important institutes include Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB) and VP Bank, which account for shares of 21.6 percent and 9.9 percent of total fund assets respectively
