Corporate and Trust

Other Financial Set-ups

International Collective Investment Schemes (ICIS)

The International Collective Investment Schemes Law, 1999 has provided the required legal framework for the registration, regulation of operations and supervision of ICIS.

An ICIS can take the following legal forms:

• International fixed capital company
• International variable capital company
• International unit trust scheme, and
• International investment limited partnership

The sole object of an ICIS is the collective investment of funds of the unitholders.

ICIS are subject to tax like any other entity. In a nutshell what is significant for ICIS is the:

• exemption from tax on foreign dividends
• exemption from tax on profit from sale of securities as defined
• no withholding tax on income repatriation by the ICIS

We can help in the creation of an International Collective Investment Scheme by assisting with:

• the constitutional documentation and the offering memorandum of the scheme
• the application of the scheme for recognition by the Central Bank of Cyprus
• the offering of administrative services to the scheme

Open-Ended Undertakings For Collective Investments In Transferable Securities (UCITS)

The UCITS Law 225 (I) 2002 provides the legal framework for the registration, regulation and marketing of local and foreign funds in Cyprus. Under this law UCITS is considered to be any organisations whose sole aim is to collectively invest publicly collected capital, in transferable securities via stock markets, banking deposits and any other investments and whose operation is based on the principle risk of diversification and whose units can be liquidated by the unit holder on request using the assets of the organisation.

As such the following are not considered to be UCITS under the law:

• UCITS which are not open ended
• UCITS that do not market to the public in Cyprus or other EU member states
• UCITS that based on their fund rules or constitutional
• UCITS for which due to their investment and borrowing policy the rules of the law 225(I) 202 are not suitable

Under this law, local UCITS may take the following legal forms:

• Mutual Funds
• Variable Capital Investment companies

We can help in the creation of a UCITS and the registration of a foreign UCITS and can support the ongoing regulatory reporting by assisting with:

• collecting all the application forms and regulations required for the application and registration and forwarding them to the applicant
• clarifying any definitions or terms with the CySEC that the applicant may have
• reviewing the completed application form and all the documents/prospectus that the applicant is required to submit to the CySEC and making recommendations as to any amendments or additions required to facilitate the success of the application
• liaising with the CySEC during their processing of the application, and acting as a intermediary for any questions that the CySEC may want to ask of the applicant
• supporting any ongoing regulatory reporting

Cyprus Investment Firms (CIF)

The Investment Firms Act of 2002 provides the legal framework for the provision of investment services as well as for the registration, regulation of operations and supervision of CIF. The Act governs the provision of investment and non-core services in Cyprus, as well as the provision of investments and non-core services from within Cyprus.

Investment services include any of the following services:

• reception and transmission, on behalf of investors, of orders in relation to one or more financial instruments as these are defined in the Act
• execution of such order, other than for own account