ECOMMBX: Cyprus - A Growing Fintech Ecosystem

By Christoforos Panagi, Antonis Andreou & Natalie Masouri

Cyprus is a small island with great ambitions. Especially over the past few years, the country has been focusing its efforts on nurturing a growing fintech ecosystem, by attracting international tech companies and venture capitalists from around the globe.

How?

Throughout history, the island’s location between East and West has given it a strategic advantage. Today, this natural blessing is combined with a series of benefits that international entrepreneurs appreciate: a highly educated workforce, an attractive taxation system with a network of 67 double tax treaties, and a corporate tax rate of 12.5%.

In addition, Cyprus has emerged as an ideal location for the establishment of IP holding and developing companies, as the country’s Intellectual Property Scheme grants an 80% tax exemption on qualifying profits. In combination with the 12.5% corporate tax rate, this can result in an effective tax rate of 2.5%, which makes Cyprus a highly appealing jurisdiction for the fintech industry, among others.

Driving and serving growth

The first step is taken by the accounting, audit, legal and tax firms which attract, service and support all kinds of legal entities from their initial incorporation to reporting to the regulators. Besides the low corporate tax rates and passporting principle, which allows a firm registered in Cyprus to do business in any other EEA state without further authorization, their main driving force is the country’s research, innovation entrepreneurship and technological development.

Both the Cypriot government and the regulatory bodies are continuously intensifying efforts to stay up to date in order to be able to welcome and serve the influx of new entities. This involves not only providing targeted tax incentives but also the need to develop their own technological monitoring systems. The goal is to create a healthy ecosystem which will facilitate the long-term servicing of such entities in Cyprus, while protecting investors and driving sustainable growth.

Key players

The bulk of new companies that are establishing a presence in Cyprus operate in the gaming industry, software development, digital marketing and supporting sectors.

In this environment, access to digital banking services is both crucial and indispensable.

Thanks to its ongoing growth and significant investment in digitalization, ECOMMBX is ideally positioned to service such entities in the Cyprus market as well as globally. The company’s vast corresponding network, range of services and digital systems allow ECOMMBX customers to execute payments swiftly and efficiently around the world.

The rapidly growing Cyprus market, together with the evolving regulations and global digitalization, presents new challenges. For valuable guidance and support, interested parties can refer to the Innovation Hub which was launched by the Central Bank of Cyprus. The purpose of the Innovation Hub is to provide an efficient communication platform between the supervisory and regulatory authorities, businesses and startups in the financial technology sector. Ultimately the hub offers reliable information regarding the procedures required to license innovative fintech products and services, to reinforce Cyprus’s vision as a tech hub in the region.

Contact Information:

Address: 27 Pindarou Street

1060 Nicosia, Cyprus

Tel: +357 22270349

e-mail: info@ecommbx.com

Website: www.ecommbanx.com

This Special Feature first appeared in the April issue of GOLD magazine. Click here to view it.