On the 10th of February 2022, CySEC published a new Circular C487 redefining the threshold criteria for determining which Cyprus Investment Firms (CIFs) are considered as 'Significant CIF'.
A CIF shall be considered as a 'Significant CIF' where its on and off-balance sheet assets are on average greater than 100 million EUR over the four-year period immediately preceding the given financial year.
CIFs should decide within four months of the completion of a financial year whether they meet the threshold criteria of a 'significant CIF' or not. In case a CIF meets those criteria, it should take all the necessary steps to comply with the requirements applicable to 'significant CIFs' as per the Investment Services Law and Prudential Law as well as inform CySEC accordingly submitting their new organizational structural.
'Significant CIFs' should establish a remuneration committee and a risk committee. The members of the risk committee should be members of the Board of Directors that do not perform any executive function in the CIF.
Furthermore, members of the board of directors of a CIF which is significant in terms of size, internal organization and the nature, scope and complexity of activities, shall not hold more than one of the following combinations of directorships at the same time:
- one executive directorship with two non-executive directorships;
- four non-executive directorships.
Also, a CIF which is significant in terms of its size, internal organization and the nature, scope and complexity of its activities, shall establish a nomination committee whose members should be members of the board of directors that do not perform any executive function in the CIF.
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