Market watchdog seeking more funds

Citing problems of understaffing, the Securities and Exchange Commission (CySec) has asked parliament to release more funds to enable it to hire 18 additional persons.

Speaking in parliament on Monday, CySec chairwoman Demetra Kalogirou said the organisation cannot cope with the workload with its current staff.

She said the market watchdog’s tasks have expanded due to the proliferation of investment services firms but also due to the fact that CySEC often has to coordinate with its counterparts abroad.

CySEc’s budget for 2018 will turn a deficit, with revenues estimated at €8.3m and expenditures at €9.2m.

The budget does not incorporate fines levied for stock market violations, as these are deposited into the state’s Consolidated Fund.

CySec is funded by own resources to the tune of 62 per cent, the rest consisting of state grants.

Quizzed by MPs, Kalogirou said CySec has completed its probes relating to the 2013 financial meltdown and has submitted all its findings to the attorney-general.

Regarding these probes, CySec has imposed administrative fines, but the majority of cases are under appeal in the courts.

 

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.