Regulatory Blog

In a key development towards supporting financial transparency, the European Commission, on 12 April 2024, issued a set of FAQs explaining reporting obligations under Article 5r of EU Council Regulation 833/2014, ie the EU’s set of trade sanctions on Russia. This anticipated EU guidance has been met with significant attention, particularly from entities navigating the details of compliance amidst heightened regulatory scrutiny.

On 3 January 2023, the Cyprus Registrar of Companies announced that, following the suspension of public access to the Beneficial Owner Register in line with the requirements of EU case law, members of staff of obliged entities under the AML regime (eg financial and credit institutions and similar) will need to submit a “solemn declaration” in order to access UBO information on the register moving forward.

On 12 April 2022, the Cyprus Bar Association issued a list of Questions and Answers providing clarifications on the EU’s fifth wave of restrictive measures against Russia and the amended Regulation 833/2014, with regard to the sanctions imposed on Russia in light of its actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine.

The Cyprus Bar Association (CBA) and the Cyprus Ministry of Finance (MoF) have issued announcements relating to the new prohibition on the provision of certain trust services under the fifth package of EU sanctions against Russia.

On 5 March 2022, the Cyprus Bar Association (CyBar) issued a high-level questions and answers guidance (Q&A) on sanctions with which it aims to guide the obliged entities of the CyBar (the Obliged Entities) on how to meet the requirements imposed by the obligation to comply with the sanctions, which are rapidly increasing in number and scope, have a wide impact, and are binding on all natural and legal persons.

On 22 March 2022, the Cyprus Bar Association issued a circular about the sanctions and restrictive measures imposed to Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine.

On 21 June 2021, the governments of the EU, UK, US and Canada issued a joint statement on the decision to impose increased sanctions on Belarus in response to the 23 May forced landing of a commercial Ryanair flight between Athens and Vilnius and the politically motivated arrest of journalist Raman Pratasevich and his companion Sofia Sapega, as well as to the continuing attack on human rights and fundamental freedoms.

On 4 July, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL) published its Annual Report for 2020, finding that states and jurisdictions evaluated, show on average, only moderate levels of effectiveness in their efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. As a consequence, on average, their level of compliance is below satisfactory in MONEYVAL’s opinion.

On 25 February 2020, the Department of Supervision and Compliance of the Cyprus Bar Association (CBA) announced that all supervised entities (lawyers (employees and self-employed), LLC/Partnerships, ASP), as part of the implementation of its Risk-Based Approach, are obliged to follow CBA’s online procedure in regards to The Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering Activities and Terrorist Financing.