Cyprus needs better legislation to monitor high risk investment firms

By Stelios Orphanides

Cypriot authorities need more powers to effectively regulate investment companies offering high risk investment products, including foreign exchange trading, in order to both protect consumers as well as its reputation as a financial centre

Today, forex companies, investment firms offering their customers the opportunity to engage in foreign exchange trading and other complex investment products make up almost one third of the more than 190 investment firms regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) with the rest offering traditional investment services, chairwoman Demetra Kalogerou said.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.