CYPRUS

By Leo Zhang. The Republic of Cyprus is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel and north of Egypt. Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is also the third most populous island in the region and one of the area's most popular tourist destinations. Cyprus' strategic location at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa has helped shape its history throughout the centuries, making it not only a major eastern Mediterranean trading hub, but a reputable international business and financial...

EXPERT INSIGHTS 2020

By Tendai Musakwa. China and Cyprus established diplomatic relations on December 12, 1971 and the two countries have developed ever-closer economic ties since then. The volume of trade between China and Cyprus increased from 150 million in 2004 to 1 billion in 2010, with an average annual growth rate of almost 40 percent. In the first half of 2012,the bilateral trade volume amounted to 400 million, rising by 1.4 percent compared with the same period of last year. Underlying the robust trade relations between the two countries is a set of bilateral agreements that make it worthwhile for investors from...

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY JURISDICTION 2020

By Leo Zhang. Because of its strategic location in the Mediterranean Sea, Cyprus has for centuries been a center for trade and a hub of commerce for the surrounding countries. Today Cyprus is a full member state of the European Union and also one of the countries that has joined the single currency, the euro. Tourism is Cyprus's main industry with 3 million tourists visiting every year. There are also high levels of education (spoken languages Greek English) and an abundance of European, American and Chinese products. Life is relaxing in Cyprus with the climate being perfect in all seasons. The...

ARTICLE OVERVIEW - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2020

Cyprus, an EU member state, combines tax efficient features of a modern financial centre with the requisite infrastructure for the fund’s industry. It offers the full spectrum of legislative framework to all fund products (UCITS and non UCITS) and provides fund managers to structure as Alternative Investment Fund Managers in line with the relevant EU Directive or a MiFID compliant Investment Firm, both EU passported. Cyprus costs are on the low side, it is efficient and its investor friendly government authorities with minimum bureaucracy. It has a platform of experienced lawyers, accountants, custodians, fund administrators and fund managers. It has...

FUNDS & FUNDS SERVICES REPORTS 2019

The citizenship by investment market has grown at a ferocious pace in the last few years; New programs have entered the fray, and existing ones have seen their application volumes grow. But how many individual passports have been issued to participants in citizenship by investment programs worldwide, all told? We’ve been digging through the data and come up with what we’re confident is the most accurate estimate ever compiled on the total number of economic citizens in the world. Throughout the analysis, we explain how we calculated our estimates. We’ve had to rely not only on official program reports but...

IMMIGRATION BY INVESTMENT REPORTS 2019

The Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cyprus has just recently proposed changes to the current Cyprus Investment Programme (citizenship by investment program), which allows obtaining the citizenship of the country in a little more than six months. The proposed changes: Investors will be required to make a donation of €75,000 to the “Cyprus Land Development Corporation” (effective from May 15, 2019); Investors will be required to make a donation of €75,000 to the “Research Promotion Foundation” (effective from May 15, 2019); Instead of the previous 3 years’ requirement, investors shall keep their investments for a period of at least 5...

IMMIGRATION BY INVESTMENT NEWS 2019

Country:                                            Cyprus Region:                                               Europe Currency:                                          Euro (EUR) (€) Languages:                            Greek, English Time Zone:                             UTC +2 Phone Code:                          +357 Communications:                  Good Cyprus is an independent democratic republic, and a member of the Commonwealth. It is prosperous: GDP US$23,500 (2017) per head. The economy is dominated by services, with tourism particularly important. Unemployment is low. The Cyprus Government worked hard to create a favorable offshore tax regime while at the same time maintaining a normal-looking domestic economy, albeit with rates of taxation that are low by international standards. The success of this programme is attested...

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY NEWS 2019

A. Introduction The House of Representatives is currently reviewing draft legislation which will introduce parts of the EU Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD) into local law. The upcoming changes relate to the introduction of: interest deductibility limitations; Controlled Foreign Company (CFC) rules; and General Anti-Abuse Rules (GAAR). We aim to cover the rules relating to CFC and GAAR in our next newsletter. In addition to the above, it is expected that the final outstanding sections from the ATAD (i.e. exit taxation and intra-EU hybrid mismatches) will be transposed into local law later in the year and come into force from 2020...

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY NEWS 2019

1) What are the advantages of the jurisdiction for Chinese investors? Cyprus is a well established international business centre with an efficient infrastructure, favourable tax and legal environment, efficient banks, experience and well qualified lawyers, accountants and other professionals A democratic and free society with a well established legal system. A good geographic position at the crossroad to Middle East, Eastern Europe and North Africa. A time zone enabling to work in the morning with China and the Far East and in the afternoon with the West. Full membership of the EU and EURO Zone. Compliance with OECD and FATF...

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY SPONSORED CONTENT 2018