CySEC enhances concept of “good repute” under its CASP regime
08 Jan 2024
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On 3 November 2023, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) issued Directive R.A.D 343/2023 (the CASP Amending Directive) which was published in the Cyprus Official Gazette. Through the CASP Amending Directive, CySEC amends its existing Directive on the Prevention and Combating of Money Laundering from Illegal Activities (Registry of Service Providers of Crypto Asset Service Providers) 2021 (the CySEC CASP Directive) in a number of important respects.
The CASP Amending Directive:
- Clarifies the relevant factors in determining whether the persons holding a management position or which are otherwise shareholders or beneficiaries of a crypto-asset service provider (known as CASPs) registered with CySEC satisfy the requirement of being of “good reputation”.
- Makes express reference to the following as factors which may bring into question the “integrity” of such persons:
- Conviction or prosecution for a criminal offence by that person or an associate of that person and especially conviction or prosecution for certain categories of offences (as specified in the CySEC CASP Directive) by that person or an associate of that person
- Designation of that person in a sanctions list
- Broadens the categories of offences specified in the CySEC CASP Directive as especially important.
The CASP Amending Directive is likely to be one of the last amendments to the CySEC CASP Directive, which is expected to be replaced by Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 May 2023 on markets in crypto-assets (MiCA) by 31 December 2024.
The Directive published to the official Gazette can be found (only in Greek) here.
Our MiCA overview guide can be found here.
