CYPRUS Trends and Developments Contributed by: Marcos Georgiades and Dominique Pelides, Georgiades & Pelides
Georgiades & Pelides LLC 16 Kyriakos Matsis Avenue Eagle House, 10th Floor Agioi Omologites 1082 Nicosia Cyprus
Tel: +357 22 889 000 Fax: +357 22 889 001
Email: info@cypruslaw.com.cy Web: www.cypruslaw.com.cy
Transposition of the Credit Servicing Directive and Related Measures Cyprus has recently implemented the provisions of Directive (EU) 2021/2167 of the European Par - liament and of the Council of 24 November 2021 on credit servicers and credit purchasers and amending Directives 2008/48/EC and 2014/17/ EU (the Credit Servicing Directive) by EU mem - ber states (including Cyprus) into national law. The bundle of implementing legislation consists of a new piece of legislation entitled the Credit Servicers and Credit Purchasers and Related Matters Law of 2024 (the Credit Servicers Law), as well as extensive amendments to the Sale of Credit Facilities and Related Matters Law of 2015, Law No 169(I)/2015 (the Sale of Loans Law). Amendments have also been made to the Liberalisation of Interest Rates and Related Mat - ters Laws of 1999 to 2015, Law No 160(I)/1999 (the Interest Law), the Law on the Prevention and Suppression of the Legalisation of Proceeds from Illegal Activities, Law No 188(I)/2007 (the AML Law), the Credit Facilities for Consumers Relating to Residential Immovable Property Law of 2017, Law N41(I)/2017, the Immoveable Prop - erty (Tenure, Registration and Valuation) Law, Cap. 224, and the Consumer Contracts Law of 2010, Law No 106(I)/2010.
The main takeaways from the new regime are discussed in further detail below, but in summa - ry, the new legislative package has fundamen - tally amended the existing framework governing authorisation of credit servicers in Cyprus, which was introduced in July 2022 as part of amend - ments to the Sale of Loans Law. In addition to replacing the existing regime for authorisation of credit servicers, the new legislation has intro - duced certain fundamental changes to the oper - ation of credit-acquiring companies in Cyprus. It should also be noted at the outset that the leg - islation does not apply to credit facilities which were neither issued by a credit institution estab - lished in the EU, nor have Cypriot law as their governing law. Authorisation of credit-acquiring companies Under the previous regime, a person wishing to acquire credit facilities in Cyprus needed to be licensed as a credit-acquiring company (CAC) by the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) prior to con - ducting their first acquisition of credit facilities, unless such person fell within a limited number of exceptions (eg, they were an authorised credit institution or a non-credit institution, in either case licensed as such by the CBC). Under that regime, an entity could only apply for authorisa -
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