The oldest bank in Liechtenstein is the first institute in Switzerland as well as in its home market to allow the opening of an account via video-link.

A standard procedure in many countries in Europe is about to take hold in the heartland of banking: Swiss regulators took their time to allow new procedures for the opening of bank accounts in a digital age.

Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB) is now preempting its Swiss rivals: customers will be allowed to use video identification when they open an account, the institute said in a statement today.

Digital Procedure

The identification via video is completing the process of opening an account digitally. Customers hitherto were allowed to open their accounts online but had to go to a branch for a formal identification.

No more: the whole process of identification will now be possible from the customer's computer, presenting ID or passport to the LLB member of staff in a video call. After the control of the document's security details, the bank will send a one-time code to the customer to confirm the identification. LLB is using technology developed by WebID Solutions of Germany.

Mobile Banking Catching Up

Opening an account will take minutes instead of days. Customers can do so anytime between 8 am and 8 pm and have to be domiciled in either Liechtenstein or Switzerland.

The service isn't yet available for smartphone users – for security reasons. LLB is working on an improvement of its services in mobile banking.