The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission ( CySEC ) on Thursday issued a warning to Cyprus Investments Firms (CIFs), particularly contracts for differences (CFDs) issuers, asking them to take immediate actions to “improve their practices.”
The regulator specified that the brokers with loose compliance practices will face enforcement actions with “significantly higher” fines. Additionally, the regulator can even suspend or revoke the operational licenses of the companies.
Cyprus is home to several financial services companies, usually brokers and other trading-industry companies. The firms usually passport their Cyprus license to operate in the European Economic Area.
Though the Medeterinian island successfully attracted financial services companies with its friendly regulations, multiple European regulators, including the ESMA, pointed out the compliances lapses on the part of Cyprus-regulated companies.
Additional Controls
The latest warning came when the Cypriot regulator is introducing additional controls for cross-border services and is imposing new rules to strengthen customer protection. The watchdog even emphasized regulatory compliance and investor protection in its supervisory objective for 2022 and 2023.
Under the new rules, companies will be compelled to appoint an internal auditor and submit a report to the regulator after receiving 20 or more complaints.
“To achieve CySEC’s mission to exercise effective supervision, ensure investors’ protection and the healthy development of the capital market, CySEC is adopting changes to its supervisory processes when it comes to monitoring cross-border activities,” said Dr. George Theocharides, CySEC’s Chairman.
“This will ensure that poor practices and possible violations of the law are adequately identified, assessed, addressed, and prioritized when needed.”
Additionally, the regulator is also imposing additional controls to check the organizational structure of new applicants to ensure their ability to carry out and monitor cross-border activities. It is even focusing on the advertising practices of the applications to ensure no aggressive marketing behavior or misleading information to the investors.
“Those who seek to violate the law have no place in Cyprus. CySEC aims for a stronger, safer, more responsible market both in Cyprus and across Europe,” Dr. Theocharides added.
Recently, the Cypriot supervisor also warned investors against the so-called “finfluencers” and the practices of “gamification” in trading. It has launched an awareness campaign against both but did not put forth any rules to curb them.
The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission ( CySEC ) on Thursday issued a warning to Cyprus Investments Firms (CIFs), particularly contracts for differences (CFDs) issuers, asking them to take immediate actions to “improve their practices.”
The regulator specified that the brokers with loose compliance practices will face enforcement actions with “significantly higher” fines. Additionally, the regulator can even suspend or revoke the operational licenses of the companies.
Cyprus is home to several financial services companies, usually brokers and other trading-industry companies. The firms usually passport their Cyprus license to operate in the European Economic Area.
Though the Medeterinian island successfully attracted financial services companies with its friendly regulations, multiple European regulators, including the ESMA, pointed out the compliances lapses on the part of Cyprus-regulated companies.
Additional Controls
The latest warning came when the Cypriot regulator is introducing additional controls for cross-border services and is imposing new rules to strengthen customer protection. The watchdog even emphasized regulatory compliance and investor protection in its supervisory objective for 2022 and 2023.
Under the new rules, companies will be compelled to appoint an internal auditor and submit a report to the regulator after receiving 20 or more complaints.
“To achieve CySEC’s mission to exercise effective supervision, ensure investors’ protection and the healthy development of the capital market, CySEC is adopting changes to its supervisory processes when it comes to monitoring cross-border activities,” said Dr. George Theocharides, CySEC’s Chairman.
“This will ensure that poor practices and possible violations of the law are adequately identified, assessed, addressed, and prioritized when needed.”
Additionally, the regulator is also imposing additional controls to check the organizational structure of new applicants to ensure their ability to carry out and monitor cross-border activities. It is even focusing on the advertising practices of the applications to ensure no aggressive marketing behavior or misleading information to the investors.
“Those who seek to violate the law have no place in Cyprus. CySEC aims for a stronger, safer, more responsible market both in Cyprus and across Europe,” Dr. Theocharides added.
Recently, the Cypriot supervisor also warned investors against the so-called “finfluencers” and the practices of “gamification” in trading. It has launched an awareness campaign against both but did not put forth any rules to curb them.
