At a news conference on held on 9 May the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission announced proposed changes to the legal framework governing collective investment schemes, aimed at boosting the investment funds sector.
It plans to amend the Alternative Investment Funds Law to introduce a new category of funds for investment by professional or well-informed investors. These will be registered in a central register, but will not be authorised or directly supervised by CySEC. Instead, the fund manager, who will be licensed and supervised by CySEC, will be responsible for their operations. These registered AIFs will be able to operate as open or closed funds, taking one of several alternative legal forms.
CySEC also proposes to amend the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Law to include so-called "below the limits" or "mini managers" managing assets of less than €100 million. This category of managers is not within the scope of the EU AIFM directive, so it will be governed by national law.
CySEC is also considering bringing companies providing administrative services to alternative investment funds within the scope of regulation, as it considers that this would support the development of the market.
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