Panel 2 “Asset & Fund Management,” provided insight to UK investors and professionals on the establishment and management of Funds through Cyprus.
Mrs Xenia Neophytou, of CX Financia an advisory firm with specialization to Financial Licensing in Cyprus, acted as the panel moderator and was joined by leading industry professionals and experts, namely, Mr. Panikos Teklos, Managing Director and Investment Management and Wealth Advisory Services Leader of Deloitte , Mr. Andreas Yiasemidis, Partner and Head of Fund Services in PWC, Mr. Christos Vasiliou, Board Member, Head of Advisory and Deputy Managing Director of KPMG and Mr. Andeas Andreou, Vice-Chairman of Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission.
The panel opened with a summary of the recent exponential growth of the Funds Industry in the last years due to the desirability of moving from a bank-dominated financial system to a system with more diverse sources of financing.
The discussion continued with an analysis of why Cyprus is gaining a reputation as an emerging financial services sector with highly favorable social and demographic trends.
The Cyprus legal and tax regimes emerged as fascinating topics. The systems allow for easy re-domiciliation of funds and fund managers, either from offshore to onshore or from a non-EU to EU. Also, various tax exemption incentives and/or tax deductions on investment income and selling and buying of securities were presented and discussed.
The prospects of fund hosting of non-EU and other small and medium-sized fund managers also provided valuable insights. Cyprus based AIFMs could provide Fund Hosting services to selective third country investment managers by offering a platform to run their funds on, including of course all supporting administration services.
Other topics discussed, covered the regulatory developments with the introduction of new products and fund structures such as limited partnerships with legal personality, registered AIFs without the requirement of regulatory authorization and sub-threshold AIFM referred to as Mini-Managers.
Throughout the discussion, it became evident that the efforts of both the industry and the government to establish Cyprus as a financial center in the Mediterranean were joined and coordinated.
The end of the presentation opened the panel for questions from the audience. The discussion that followed was enlightening, with the members of the audience seeking clarifications, putting forward inquiries, and discussing the various opportunities that are available to UK funds on the Island.
