CySEC reports increase in number of supervised entities in 2022
Dr. George Theocharides, Chairman of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), has announced that at the end of 2022, the number of supervised entities had risen to 837, up from 806 in 2021, an increase of 3.9%.
As Dr Theocharides delivered his annual review on CySEC’s activities, he said that approximately 100 new applications are under review pending licensing.
During 2022, a total of 86 applications for licenses were approved for all types of entities under the supervision of CySEC. The regulator rejected 6 applications for Cyprus Investment Firms (CIFs) licenses and a further 15 applications were withdrawn, including applications for CIF licences and collective investments.
As outlined by Dr. Theocharides, the supervisory role of CySEC will be further expanded as two new groups of supervised entities now fall under its authority. The first is European Crowdfunding Service Providers (ECSPs), which can provide pan-European services from the Republic, under on European Regulation 2020/1503. The other group is the Providers of Pan-European Personal Pension products (PEPP), that stems from European Regulation 2019/1238.
During 2022, the Supervision Department carried out 359 remote, thematic and on-site inspections of CIFs, as well as the monitoring of the implementation of requirements for reporting transactions/derivatives contracts. Additionally, it conducted 119 remote document inspections and the monitoring of the requirements to Collective Investment Institutions.
Also, during 2022, the Department continued to monitor the online marketing practices of CIFs through its specialised system, which allows it to collect and analyse information in relation to them.
It concluded the evaluation of advertising material of more than 10 CIFs, and potential violations have been identified from the findings. The CIFs were asked to make the necessary modifications to comply with the legislative framework that governs them. Additionally, the advertising material of another 37 CIFs is under examination.
The Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Department has completed on-site inspections of 14 supervised entities and is in the process of a further 15 inspections, for which possible violations of existing legislation may be identified.
The Department of Market Surveillance and Investigations conducted 15 raids, completed 39 investigations, and had 48 further investigations in progress by the end of 2022.
In 2022, CySEC imposed administrative fines totalling approximately €2.9 million, of which the overwhelming majority related to fines and settlements for CIFs. In the past two years, administrative fines of over €4.2 million have been imposed, of which over €3.6 million stemmed from CIFs.
Over the past 10 years, CySEC has imposed fines and settlements totalling €34.2 million.