The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission ( CySEC  CySEC The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) is a financial regulatory authority of Cyprus. CySEC is one of the key watchdog authorities for brokerages in Europe, whose financial regulations and operations comply with the European MiFID financial harmonization law.Founded in 2001, CySEC is instrumental in providing licensing and registration for forex brokers and previously binary options providers.CySEC is responsible for a variety of different functions, which includes the supervision and control of the Cyprus Stock Exchange as well as transactions executed in the Stock Exchange, its listed companies, brokers and brokerage firms.Furthermore, the regulator also supervises and monitors Licensed Investment Services Companies, Collective Investment funds, investment consultants. and mutual fund management companies.CySEC’s Role in Combatting Market AbuseOne of CySEC’s most important functions is the granting of operation licenses to investment firms, including investment consultants, brokerage firms and brokers. This includes provisions for Cyprus Investment Firms (CIF), who provide and perform investment services and activities either within Cyprus or abroad on a professional basis on certain financial instruments.Finally, CySEC oversees the imposition of administrative sanctions and disciplinary penalties to brokers, brokerage firms, and investment consultants, among others. The group has been a key force in policing the forex and binary options space, which has included several legal actions and curb market abuse. Since 2016, CySEC has sought to take a more aggressive stance against illicit behavior, while also strengthening its handling of investor complaints against entities. CySEC is currently chaired by Demetra Kalogerou, who has held the role since 2011.The CySEC is administered by a seven-member Board, which consist of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman, each of whom provide their services on a full and exclusive employment basis, and five additional non-executive members.All individuals on CySEC’s Board are appointed by the Council of Ministers following a proposal of the Minister of Finance. Their service reflects a five-year term. The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) is a financial regulatory authority of Cyprus. CySEC is one of the key watchdog authorities for brokerages in Europe, whose financial regulations and operations comply with the European MiFID financial harmonization law.Founded in 2001, CySEC is instrumental in providing licensing and registration for forex brokers and previously binary options providers.CySEC is responsible for a variety of different functions, which includes the supervision and control of the Cyprus Stock Exchange as well as transactions executed in the Stock Exchange, its listed companies, brokers and brokerage firms.Furthermore, the regulator also supervises and monitors Licensed Investment Services Companies, Collective Investment funds, investment consultants. and mutual fund management companies.CySEC’s Role in Combatting Market AbuseOne of CySEC’s most important functions is the granting of operation licenses to investment firms, including investment consultants, brokerage firms and brokers. This includes provisions for Cyprus Investment Firms (CIF), who provide and perform investment services and activities either within Cyprus or abroad on a professional basis on certain financial instruments.Finally, CySEC oversees the imposition of administrative sanctions and disciplinary penalties to brokers, brokerage firms, and investment consultants, among others. The group has been a key force in policing the forex and binary options space, which has included several legal actions and curb market abuse. Since 2016, CySEC has sought to take a more aggressive stance against illicit behavior, while also strengthening its handling of investor complaints against entities. CySEC is currently chaired by Demetra Kalogerou, who has held the role since 2011.The CySEC is administered by a seven-member Board, which consist of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman, each of whom provide their services on a full and exclusive employment basis, and five additional non-executive members.All individuals on CySEC’s Board are appointed by the Council of Ministers following a proposal of the Minister of Finance. Their service reflects a five-year term. Read this Term) announced this Monday that Cyprus Investment Firms (CIFs) will need to provide information on their cross-border activity for 2019.

Specifically, CIFs that were authorised by the regulator by 31st December 2019 will need to provide information on cross border activity during the period spanning from 1st January to 31st December 2019.

The deadline has been set for Friday, 16th October 2020. In its statement today, the Cypriot regulator stresses that it will not be granting extensions for eligible CIFs.

The new form, FPISA-CIF, asks for CIFs to provide information on the European Economic Area (EEA) countries in which they provide investment services and activities to and whether they have more than 300 clients in each country.

Is CySEC Preparing for a No-Deal  Brexit  Brexit Brexit stands for British Exit, or in reference to the United Kingdom’s decision to formally leave the European Union (EU) as declared in a June 23, 2016 referendum. In a more immediate sense, a tight vote and unexpected result helped drive British pound (GBP) to lows that had not been seen in decades. The day following the referendum, former Prime Minister David Cameron resigned from office where he was replaced by Theresa May, who later resigned from office on June 7th, 2019. Active Prime Minister Boris Johnson was elected Prime Minister the following month, who was well-known as a headstrong Brexit supporter.  While the United Kingdom was predicted to leave exit the EU by October 31st, 2019, the U.K. Parliament sought out a deadline extension that delayed voting on the new deal.  Following Boris Johnson’s reelection, Brexit occurred on January 31st, 2020 at 11 pm Greenwich Mean Time.  Brexit Creating Ongoing Issues in with Europe While the United Kingdom is in a transition period following its departure from the EU, the U.K. is negotiating its complete trade relationship with the EU, which is the United Kingdom’s largest trade partner. Terms of this trade agreement must be met by January 1st, 2021. Should terms of this trade agreement take longer than the projected resolution date of January 1st, 2021 then the U.K. must acquire an extension no later than June 1st, 2020. Failure to do so will result in the U.K. is subject to tariff and host rule changes exercised by the E.U. This situation is referred to as the “no-deal” Brexit and should this occur the consequences could result in a significant fallout of the U.K. economy.  For the past few years, many banks and lenders operating previously in the UK had been given passporting rights to the European continent. The lingering uncertainty caused by Brexit resulted in many of these lenders relocating their European headquarters within continental Europe. Brexit stands for British Exit, or in reference to the United Kingdom’s decision to formally leave the European Union (EU) as declared in a June 23, 2016 referendum. In a more immediate sense, a tight vote and unexpected result helped drive British pound (GBP) to lows that had not been seen in decades. The day following the referendum, former Prime Minister David Cameron resigned from office where he was replaced by Theresa May, who later resigned from office on June 7th, 2019. Active Prime Minister Boris Johnson was elected Prime Minister the following month, who was well-known as a headstrong Brexit supporter.  While the United Kingdom was predicted to leave exit the EU by October 31st, 2019, the U.K. Parliament sought out a deadline extension that delayed voting on the new deal.  Following Boris Johnson’s reelection, Brexit occurred on January 31st, 2020 at 11 pm Greenwich Mean Time.  Brexit Creating Ongoing Issues in with Europe While the United Kingdom is in a transition period following its departure from the EU, the U.K. is negotiating its complete trade relationship with the EU, which is the United Kingdom’s largest trade partner. Terms of this trade agreement must be met by January 1st, 2021. Should terms of this trade agreement take longer than the projected resolution date of January 1st, 2021 then the U.K. must acquire an extension no later than June 1st, 2020. Failure to do so will result in the U.K. is subject to tariff and host rule changes exercised by the E.U. This situation is referred to as the “no-deal” Brexit and should this occur the consequences could result in a significant fallout of the U.K. economy.  For the past few years, many banks and lenders operating previously in the UK had been given passporting rights to the European continent. The lingering uncertainty caused by Brexit resulted in many of these lenders relocating their European headquarters within continental Europe. Read this Term?

Overall, the form does not look difficult to complete. However, the timing of the new form is interesting. Whilst CySEC has not outlined why it has issued the new form, the Brexit deadline is fast approaching.

This could be the regulator’s way of looking into passporting issues, by seeing how many CIFs have more than 300 clients in the United Kingdom. With the transition period between Britain and the European Union (EU) set to end on 1st January 2021, the UK could very well leave the bloc without a deal in place.

Passporting is when an EEA-registered firm exercises its right to do business in other EEA countries without needing further authorisation in each country. This has allowed UK brokerages and other financial institutions to operate within the EU and vice versa without needing additional authorisations.

Whether this is the motivation behind the new information being sought by CySEC, it is only speculation at this point. Finance Magnates has reached out to CySEC for clarification as to the reasoning behind this latest form. As of the time of publishing, we have not yet received a response.

Quinn Perrott, the co-CEO of TRAction Fintech, who specialises in EU trade reporting regulation, explained to Finance Magnates: “reading between the lines, this seems to be focused mainly at Brexit, I’m guessing CySEC wants to get some quick data on how exposed their brokers could be to a no deal scenario.”