Opening Keynote speech by Dr George Theocharides on his intuition for the industry and governance direction, society expectations and future opportunities
To commence the 2023 IFX Expo 2023, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) Chairman, Dr George Theocharides, gave an opening Keynote speech regarding his intuition for the industry and governance direction, society expectations and future opportunities. Below you can find some key points from the keynote speech.
The speech offered key insight into what has been accurately dubbed the ‘Digitalisation Revolution’, resulting from Artificial Intelligence (‘AI’), Crypto assets, Cyber Security innovation, among others, transforming our economic system.
One of the things we will see emerge is the Transaction Data Reporting System which will be connected to the ESMA Hub as well as other methodologies and processes underway to monitor online activities with Cyprus Investment Firms (CIFs).
CySEC is also working on an Innovation Hub to monitor Digitalization, including AI and Crypto, which will include a regulatory sandbox so that firms can test their business in real conditions, this regulatory sandbox is expected to be ready in the next year.
CySEC has increased tools to monitor online advertising as they observe that with the emergence of a new generation of young investors there has been a notable increase in fraud; as such the new Digital Operational Resilience Act (‘DORA’ regulation) will be applicable by 2025.
Furthermore, Anti-Money Laundering is under review at EU level in order to expand on the existing Crypto related trends. MiFID II is also currently under review with a proposal which aims to improve market transparency, this will include a mandatory framework for a consolidated tape for trading and post-trading data.
To conclude, the implementation of MICA by the end of 2024 is only considered a starting point. With the significant impact of digitalization and sustainable finance, they are a key focus for both CySEC and EMSA’s projects which are currently underway.