The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission wishes to remind all trustees of express trusts or persons holding an equivalent position in similar legal arrangements, that they have a legal obligation to provide relevant requested information to the Register (Cyprus Trusts beneficial owners registry – CyTBOR) as soon as possible and no later than the 7th of October, 2022.
Failure or negligence to provide all the information may lead to heavy monetary fines or imprisonment, or both, as described below:
- A person that does not comply with the provisions of section 61C of the AML/CFT Law or the Directives, may be fined by CySEC with five hundred thousand euros (EUR 500.000), and up to one million euros (EUR 1.000.000), depending on the gravity of the breach or renewed breaches.
- If a person refuses, omits, or neglects to submit and/or disclose information to CySEC for the purposes of fulfilling his obligations, in addition to committing an infringement for which an administrative penalty is imposed, if convicted, may be guilty of an offence and could be liable to imprisonment for up to five years or to a fine not exceeding three hundred and fifty thousand euros (EUR350.000) or to both penalties.
- Criminal liability for the offences committed by a legal person shall, in addition to the legal person, be held by any member of the board of directors of that legal person, by the managing director, secretary or other official or other administrative organs of that legal person, who is proven to have consented to, or participated in, the commission of the offence.
All obliged entities are reminded that when they enter a new business relationship with an express trust or similar legal arrangement, they should collect proof of registration or an excerpt of the beneficial ownership information held in the CyTBOR.
For further assistance and information please refer to our corporate services page or contact our dedicated compliance team >
