The conference “CYPRUS PROFESSIONALS: MANAGING THE CRITICAL TURNS AHEAD” conference, which was jointly arranged by the leading Swiss event organisers Academy & Finance and our firm, took place on 8 and 9 Novermber at the Four Seasons Hotel in Limassol.  The conference was attended by a  wide range of businesspeople, professionals and senior decision-makers from around the world in the fields of banking, finance and law. It was hailed as a great success and also received extensive media coverage.  

The conference presented an up to date overview of the increasingly rigorous international standards regarding exchange of fiscal information and the way it is collected, with special emphasis on recent initiatives such as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and Automatic Exchange of Information (AEI) and their implementation in Cyprus, which will help Cyprus maintain its reputation for transparency and reliability. Expert speakers from Cyprus and abroad gave their insights on topics including  the impact of BEPS and the changes to the UK "non-domiciled" rules. Elias Neocleous chaired the first day of the conference and Philippos Aristotelous and Demetris Roti gave presentations on Cyprus rules and practice on residence and substance and on using Cyprus companies to do business in Iran under the new double tax agreement between Iran and Cyprus.

Overseas speakers included Peter Cotorceanu, CEO and founder of GATCA & Trusts Compliance Associates LLC, Zürich, who spoke on how FATCA and CRS apply to trusts and underlying companies, Denis-Emmanuel Philippe, a partner in Bloom Law, Brussels and Luxembourg and affiliate professor at the university of Liège, who spoke on private wealth vehicles and the automatic exchange of information, and Oleg Konnov, a partner in Herbert Smith Freehills, Moscow, who spoke on how Russia is strengthening its rules on de-offshorisation of clients and automatic exchange of information. A copy of the programme showing all the speakers and their topics can be viewed via the link below.