Trusts

A new Cyprus law passed this year, has introduced a register of trusts. Cyprus provides a solid law for setting up international trusts. The Security and Exchange commission, The Cyprus Barrister Association and the the Institute of Certified Public Accountants are the three competent authorities to register such trusts. For this reason, relevant regulations and fees have been issued for the registration of trusts in Cyprus. The Registers of Trusts are treated as confidential by the 3 authorities.

An article article in The Economist magazine declares that proposed revisions to the EU Savings Directive, together with the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, amount to ‘the biggest overhaul of the legal treatment of trusts, since trust law was first developed in the twelfth century for Crusader knights wanting to safeguard their assets while they were away in the Holy Land.’