The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC ) has updated its list of registered entities with a new entrant. The latest company to join the brokerage industry on the island is Emporium Capital.
The newest holder of a Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF) license is based in Nicosia. The company has picked the city, which is home of the CySEC, instead of going with Limassol, where the bulk of the industry is located.
The directors of the Emporium Capital are Petros Antoniadis, Marios Souzou, and Charalampos Stavrinidis. The company was established in 2017 but only recently acquired its brand new CySEC license.
The website of the new brokerage company is still not operating, but the firm’s office in the center of Nicosia is now open. The firm chose the prestigious business district and the Center Point Tower as its headquarters.
Cyprus Brokerage Industry Contraction
In light of the new regulatory environment across Europe, the Forex and CFDs industry in Cyprus has been contracting in recent months. Several companies across the island have been for sale.
The main reason is that most of those firms haven’t manage to build a solid-enough book of clients to survive the new regulations. Emporium Capital enters the space in one of the most challenging periods for the FX industry.
The forex and CFDs brokerage business has become more capital intensive in recent years. Firms have also been looking to diversify their license portfolios.
The main strategy many of the CySEC-regulated brokers chose was to establish offshore subsidiaries. This allows EU-regulated brokers to offer high-leverage trading to clients outside of the EU.
While there are no limits for EU citizens to open accounts with offshore brokers, regulated companies are not permitted to solicit their clients to move accounts outside of Europe.
CySEC-regulated brokers have established foreign subsidiaries in multiple offshore jurisdictions. Those include exotic countries such as The Bahamas, Seychelles, Vanuatu, St Kitts & Nevis, and others.
Finance Magnates reached out to Emporium Capital for a comment on this article. At the time of publication, no official answer has been received.
