Investment Firms

Law 144(I)/2007 regulates the provision of Investment Services and ancillary services and the exercise of investment activities  as well as the operation of a regulated markets in Cyprus.

An investment Firm is a firm that is authorized and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CYSEC) for the provision of the following investment and ancillary services in relation to specific financial instruments:

1. Reception and transmission of client orders.
2. Execution of orders on behalf of clients
3. Dealing of the investment firm on own account
4. Portfolio management
5. Investment advice
6. Underwriting of financial instruments and/or placing of financial instruments on a firm commitment basis
7. Placing of financial instruments without a firm commitment basis
8. Operation of a Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF)

Ancillary services include:

1. Safekeeping and administration of financial instruments for the account of clients
2. Granting credits or loans to an investor to allow him to carry out a transaction in one or more financial instruments
3. Foreign exchange services where these are connected to the provision of investment services

As law 144(I)/2007 transposes the MIFID Directive 2004/39/EC, Investment Firms are facilitated to provide services within the whole of EEA (EU passport for financial services, cross border, branch, subsidiary). At the same time, they are obliged to create strict rules for clear segregation between client and own money, to create strict conflict of interest avoidance rules, the obligation of Best Execution is created, so as to ensure that the Investment Firm executes client orders with the best possible terms for the clients.

Financial Services companies include Investment Firms providing services in

1. Investment advisory,
2. Discretionary portfolio management,
3. Foreign Exchange,
4. Binary Options
5. Operating a trading platform (Multilateral Trading Facility)

Please contact us for further information.