25/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - The Principality of Liechtenstein recently modified its legislation for strengthening the fight against money laundering. The new provisions, which will take effect early 2001, provide for the ban on anonymous accounts as well as extension of the obligation for banks to notify funds from suspicious origins. From next year on, banks and investment institutes should declare these funds from their first contact with a client and not only after a transaction. It will also be compulsory for accountants and lawyers, who could hitherto keep the name of their clients undisclosed under banking secrecy, to reveal their clients' identity for any new business. A transitional two-year period is foreseen for the longest running matters. In this context, the association of banks in Liechtenstein (the LBV, which groups eleven of the sixteen banks established in the principality) has announced that it would no longer tolerate the opening of anonymous accounts as of 1 October.