On 23 March 2021, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) issued its latest press release on the Total Assets Under Management in the country. The CySEC is yet to publish its Annual Statistical Bulletin for 2020. However, the Sector Quarterly Statistics for the last quarter of 2020 are now available on its website. Here are some of the most important takeaways from this document:

Supervised Entities

• There were a total of 283 Management Companies and Undertakings of Collective Investments (UCIs) under the supervision of CySEC in the last quarter of 2020.
• 197 of these entities had operations, including 56 Internally Managed UCIs, 164 Externally Managed UCIs, and 63 External Fund Managers.
• The total number of Management Companies includes 81 Sub-Threshold AIFMs, 31 AIFMs, 4 dual license entities (AIFMs and UCITS Management Companies), and 3 UCITS Management Companies.

Furthermore, we saw a new regulatory category introduced for the first time in the statistics following the entry into force of the Small AIFM Law 2020 in July 2020: the statistics reported 17 Small Alternative Investment Fund Managers or Small AIFMs. These entities have received CySEC approval for the provision of AIF management functions as per Section 5(5)(b) of Law 87(I)/2017 and are considered Small Managers following the implementation of the Small AIFM Law 2020.

Assets Under Management

• The Net Asset Value (NAV) of the UCIs managed by the Management Companies was €6.99 billion.
• Some 52.5% of the AUM relates to AIFM-managed assets, and 22.1% are managed by Sub-Threshold AIFMs.
• The remainder of assets are managed as follows: 20.7% by AIFMs and UCITS Management Companies, 3.9% by UCITS Management Companies, and 0.8% by Regulated UCIs managed by Foreign Fund Managers.

Investments

• AIFs, AIFLNPs, and RAIFs invest primarily in Private Equity (43%).
• 14.7% of the AUM are invested in Real Estate.
• UCITSs invest heavily in Transferable Securities (81%) and, to a lesser extent, in Bank Deposits (10%).

Out of a total of 165 UCIs with operations, which make up 71% of the total AUM, 150 UCIs domiciled in Cyprus as follows:

• 70 AIFLNP
• 48 AIF
• 21 RAIF
• 11 UCITS

119 of the total 165 UCIs managed by UCI Management Companies invest in Cyprus, with the total investments in the country amounting to €2.15 billion (25.1%). 54% of the investments are in Private Equity and 14% in Real Estate.

Unit Holders

• The vast majority of UCITs are Retail Investors (99.3%).
• 40.2% of AIF, AIFNLP, and RAIF are Professional Investors, of which 49.3% are Well-Informed Investors, and only 10.5% are Retail Investors.

Investment Sectors

• UCIs invested heavily in the Energy sector, with AUM totaling €246.2m or 2.86% of total AUM).
• Another €29.9m or 0.35% of total AUM was invested in Fintech.
• €72.1m or 0.84% of total AUM went to the Shipping sector, €28.1m (0.32% of total AUM) in Sustainability, and just €1.5min (0.017% of total AUM) in Cryptocurrencies.

Final Thoughts

Despite a rocky and pandemic-ridden 2020, things are looking good at present. The value of Total Assets Under Management reached €8.58bn in the fourth quarter of last year. That represents a healthy 10.3% growth from the previous quarter and a 3.8% increase from the fourth quarter of 2019.

For more information please contact us at info@savvacyprus.com. We will be happy to assist you.