Liechtenstein's Bank Frick has launched Named Virtual IBANs for crypto exchanges, brokers and payment platforms. The product simplifies fiat deposits, but the platform remains responsible for knowing where those funds come from and where they go next.
Bank Frick's Named Virtual IBAN Offering
On 6 October 2026, Bank Frick introduced Named VBANs: virtual IBANs assigned to an individual end customer and linked to the platform's central safeguarding account. Incoming deposits are matched to the correct customer automatically, removing manual reconciliation via payment references. Platforms manage the VBANs through the bank's API.
Bank Frick has offered regulated blockchain banking since 2018 and carries considerable standing in the DACH market. Its move is likely to route more crypto on-ramp volume through named accounts.
Residual Compliance Gaps
A named VBAN identifies whose account a deposit belongs to. It does not establish who sent the funds, where they originated, or where they go once credited. Where the remitter differs from the VBAN holder, the platform is dealing with third-party funding, a recognised indicator of money mule activity. Automated crediting also shortens the interval between fiat arriving and crypto leaving, removing the informal review window that manual reconciliation once provided.
The Role of Know Your Transaction Screening
Once a deposit is credited, the risk moves on chain. Named VBANs tie each fiat movement to a verified customer, allowing platforms to follow funds from bank transfer to wallet address and back. That customer-level view exposes patterns neither side reveals alone: rapid fiat-in, crypto-out activity, multiple customers withdrawing to a shared address, or exposure to sanctioned entities, mixers and terror financing networks.
Nominis assesses that the efficiency named VBANs bring will increase deposit volume per compliance analyst. That is sustainable only if on-chain screening is automated to the same degree as fiat matching.
Nominis Perspective
"Named VBANs tell a platform whose money has arrived. The harder question is where it goes next. As fiat deposits become faster and more automated, on-chain monitoring has to keep pace, following each customer's funds from the bank transfer to the wallet and back."
Snir Levi, Founder and CEO, Nominis
Key Considerations for Compliance Teams
Platforms adopting named VBANs should confirm that their monitoring compares remitter and VBAN holder names, screens end customers continuously, links fiat and on-chain activity at customer level, and applies KYT to deposit and withdrawal addresses before funds move.
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