Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (Greek: Επιτροπή Κεφαλαιαγοράς), better known as CySEC, is the financial regulatory agency of the Republic of Cyprus.

As CySEC is part of the European MiFID regulations it has attracted a number of overseas firms registering in Cyprus to take advantage of what is seen as light regulations that give access to the rest of Europe. Notably is the significant number of overseas retail forex brokers that have obtained registration from CySEC as they generally see this as an easy way to get a license without having to meet stringent requirements that would be imposed by other European financial regulators, yet still qualify under MiFID and so completely free to operate in all European Union member countries.

History

CySEC was launched in 2001 as part of section 5 of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (Establishment and Responsibilities) Law of 2001 as a public corporate body.

Since Cyprus became a member of the European Union in 2004, CySEC has become part of European MiFID regulation, giving firms registered in Cyprus access to all European markets. This has led to a number of overseas firms registering in Cyprus to take advantage of this regulatory regime.