The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC ) announced on Monday that it has withdrawn the Investors Compensation Fund (ICF) membership of five financial services companies.
According to the note, Deloitte Investment Services Ltd, Rodeler Ltd, Stocks Forex AF Ltd, Optionrally Financial Services Ltd and Globia Wealth Ltd are no longer part of CySEC’s fund. Still, the Cypriot watchdog clarified that the loss of such membership status does not imply the loss of rights of covered clients to receive compensation related to investment operations: “(…) the loss of ICF membership status does not mean loss of rights of covered clients to receive compensation in relation to investment operations carried out until the loss of membership status, if the conditions for compensation are fulfilled pursuant to the Directive, nor does it obstruct the initiation of the compensation procedure for covered clients.”
Such a decision was taken in the wake of the CySEC’s manoeuvre to take down these firms’ Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF) authorization. However, there are no further details regarding such an announcement nor official statements from the affected companies by the mandate set by CySEC.
CySEC Announcements
Recently, the financial watchdog appointed Dr George Theocharides as the regulator’s new Chairman on Wednesday after a decision by the Council of Ministers. He succeeded Demetra Kalogerou as her tenure as the regulatory head came to an end. Moreover, last week, CySEC released a detailed policy statement covering the registration process and operations of the crypto-asset service providers (CASPs).
The ruling pointed out that depending on the structure of the businesses, the crypto assets will either qualify as financial instruments under the Investment Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Law or as Electronic Money under the Electronic Money Law. Additionally, the crypto-assets can be a digital representation of value that is neither issued nor guaranteed by a central bank or a public authority.
