Institutional investors

1. scope

Articles 367h to 367l PGR apply to institutional investors admitted in Liechtenstein who invest, directly or indirectly through an asset manager, in shares traded on a regulated market.

Institutional investors are

• Companies carrying out life insurance or reinsurance activities under the Insurance Supervision Act (VersAG); and
• Institutions for occupational retirement provision under the Pension Fund Act (PFG).

Institutional investors and institutional investors do not include pension institutions under the Occupational Pensions Act (OPA).

2. Duties of institutional investors

Development and announcement of a participation policy

Institutional investors shall prepare and publish a participation policy describing how they integrate shareholder participation into their investment strategy. The participation policy must contain the content provided for by law in accordance with Art. 367h para. 1 PGR.

In addition, it must be disclosed annually how the participation policy has been implemented, including a general description of voting behavior, an explanation of the most important votes and the use of services of proxy advisors.

In addition, institutional investors have to publish their voting behavior in general meetings of companies in which they hold shares, unless it is an insignificant vote due to its subject matter or the size of the shareholding.

If voting advisors do not comply with the above requirements, they must explain why they do not do so ("comply or explain").

The information on the participation policy must be made available on the institutional investors' website.

If an asset manager has implemented the participation policy, including the voting policy, on behalf of the institutional investor, reference shall be made to where such voting information has been posted by the asset manager.

Notification of the investment strategy

Institutional investors shall disclose the extent to which the main elements of their investment strategy correspond to the profile and duration of their liabilities and how they contribute to the medium and long-term performance of their assets.

If an asset manager invests on behalf of the institutional investor, he shall disclose the information on the agreement with the asset manager with the content provided for in Art. 367i para. 1 PGR. If certain information is not included in the agreement, he or she must explain why this is the case ("comply or explain").

The information on the investment strategy must be made available on the institutional investors' website and updated if necessary. If the institutional investors are regulated under the VersAG, they may instead include this information in their solvency and financial condition report.

3. Supervision of institutional investors' compliance with their obligations

As part of the annual statutory audit or review obligations, the auditor or auditing agency shall verify whether the obligations have been complied with by the institutional investor and shall confirm this by means of an audit report. If the auditor or auditing agency identifies deficiencies in the course of the audit, the report is forwarded to the Office of Justice.

Compliance with the obligations is to be declared by the company to be audited to the auditor or the auditing agency by means of the form provided by the Office of Justice.

Intermediary - Factual Information and Declaration to Auditors