Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB), one of Europe’s oldest banks, has decided to withdraw from the United Arab Emirates, marking the end of its two-decade presence in the Gulf. The bank, founded in 1861 and majority-owned by the Principality of Liechtenstein, confirmed on 2 September 2025 that it will shut down its offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and recommend Rothschild & Co Bank AG as its partner of choice for private-banking clients in the region. The move underscores both the rising regulatory costs faced by smaller European institutions abroad and the UAE’s consolidation as a regional wealth hub.
LLB first entered the Gulf market in the early 2000s, expanding its reach to capture the growing pool of high-net-worth individuals in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. However, the group has remained relatively small by regional standards. As of the first half of 2025, LLB managed a business volume of CHF 117.2 billion worldwide, but less than one percent of that was tied to its UAE operations. By comparison, larger European peers such as UBS and Julius Baer have invested heavily in scaling their regional franchises, while others including Lombard Odier and HSBC’s Swiss unit have recently reduced their exposure, citing compliance costs and shifting client strategies.
The latest agreement between LLB and Rothschild & Co covers the referral of an estimated CHF 1 billion (USD 1.25 billion) in client assets. This figure represents potential transfers, subject to client consent and onboarding, and thus may not translate into the full book. For Rothschild & Co, the addition is incremental when measured against its €124 billion in global wealth and asset management assets, but strategically significant in a market where client relationships and scale are essential. Rothschild said it intends to employ all 20 of LLB’s UAE staff and take over its Dubai office, raising its Middle East wealth team to roughly 25 professionals under the leadership of Sascha Benz. This will consolidate Rothschild’s position in the region less than a year after it formally opened its Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) office in November 2024.
The UAE, and Dubai in particular, has emerged in the past decade as a post-pandemic wealth hub, attracting inflows from Europe, Asia, and increasingly Africa. The DIFC, overseen by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), has recorded steady growth in new financial firms, adding 61 new authorisations in the first half of 2024 alone. Wealth managers cite the tax regime, regulatory predictability, and the emirate’s appeal as a global lifestyle destination as drivers of growth. Against this backdrop, competition for talent and clients is intensifying. In recent months, Lombard Odier announced it would close its Abu Dhabi office, HSBC’s Swiss private bank exited over 1,000 Middle East client relationships, and Julius Baer confirmed it was shutting its Qatar office while preparing an Abu Dhabi launch. LLB’s exit thus reflects not an isolated case, but a broader realignment of offshore wealth strategies.
For LLB, the retrenchment is part of a refocus on its core European markets—Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany—where the bank can leverage scale, brand, and its state-backed credibility. The bank remains 56.3 percent owned by the Principality of Liechtenstein, which under local law must maintain at least 51 percent of shares. That ownership structure has long provided LLB with a strong credit profile, but the pressures of cross-border compliance in far-flung markets have prompted strategic retrenchments. For Rothschild & Co, meanwhile, the deal builds on its centuries-long heritage of wealth advisory and its more recent push into the Middle East, complementing its global strategy of selective expansion into growth markets rather than mass acquisition.
The transfer of assets and staff will not be immediate. Clients must consent to referral, and all accounts will undergo new KYC and anti-money laundering checks under DFSA oversight. Still, both firms presented the transaction as a seamless handover that preserves client continuity and offers Rothschild a larger regional footprint. Analysts note that although CHF 1 billion in assets is modest by global standards, it signals Rothschild’s growing commitment to the Gulf, a market increasingly dominated by a handful of large global banks and specialised European players.
Looking forward, the case of LLB illustrates the divergence in strategies among European private banks. Larger institutions with the resources to absorb regulatory costs continue to expand in the Gulf, while smaller ones step back. The UAE’s role as a booking centre for wealth from the Middle East, Asia, and Africa appears only to be strengthening, with competition for high-net-worth individuals and family offices set to intensify. In that context, Rothschild & Co’s integration of LLB’s UAE business may be seen less as a major asset haul and more as a foothold consolidation in an increasingly contested market.
