Liechtenstein’s banks support refugees
Under the leadership of the Liechtenstein Bankers Association, the three major banks are offering help to Ukrainian refugees.
The three large Liechtenstein banks are providing refugees from Ukraine with a fee-free account connection until further notice. With this free access to banking, they are helping persons from Ukraine with protection status “S” cope with their daily lives in Liechtenstein as quickly as possible.
According to a press release, the Liechtenstein Bankers Association (LBV) is supporting persons from Ukraine with protection status “S” with a fee-free account connection including payment transactions and EC card until further notice. In a joint declaration, the financial services company LGT, the Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB) and the private bank VP Bank announced that support would be provided to refugees from Ukraine under their previously launched FAST Initiative.
The banks will offer fee-free bank accounts to those who had fled Ukraine, who will not be charged for making payment transactions or receiving an EC card. The financial sector is therefore ensuring that “all those in need of protection are integrated into regular structures as quickly as possible”, said Minister Dominique Hasler.
The statement also confirmed that “access to financial services for all people is a recognized, fundamental right”. In order for displaced people to lead an independent life as soon as possible, they need a bank account.
People from Ukraine arriving in the Principality of Liechtenstein can contact the three banks directly. The banks, as co-sponsors and co-initiators of the FAST initiative, feel “all the more obliged to apply the principles of financial inclusion of vulnerable people anchored in its goals to those affected as a result of the Ukraine war in an uncomplicated and unbureaucratic manner,” said Simon Tribelhorn, CEO of the Liechtenstein Bankers Association. Liechtenstein is one of the active partners of the FAST initiative, which was launched in 2018 to combat modern slavery and human trafficking. One of its five defined goals is to help “prevent vulnerable populations from experiencing exploitation”.
