Cyprus Business Now

BUX, a European digital financial services company, announced on Wednesday the appointment of Jean-Raphael Nahas as new Managing Director of its Cyprus CFD operations, following the hiring of online brokerage executive, Salim Sebbata, as CEO, BUX CFD, in the summer of 2021.

“BUX is a well-established and respected brand in Europe, and its vision and ambition are driven by a multi-cultural and highly talented team,” Nahas said in a statement.

“BUX continues to differentiate itself within the CFD space, and with its strong growth plans, I look forward to working with the talented team and bringing BUX X to the next level,” he added.

Nahas will be responsible for all European CFD business, running the company in Cyprus, and is part of the CFD leadership team.

“BUX is looking forward to bringing on board someone with Jean-Raphael’s track record of driving growth, business development opportunities and heading operational management,” CEO BUX CFD Salim Sebbata said.

“The EU and UK markets remain key hubs for the group and are also attractive target markets. Jean-Raphael’s previous experience aligns well with our plans to catapult BUX’s CFD business into the next phase of growth,” he added.

BUX recently completed the process of acquiring a Cyprus Investment Firm which enables the company to further grow its CFD business in the EU in a post-Brexit environment.

This also marks the completion of the migration of EU-resident CFD clients from the UK to the new entity ‘BUX Europe’.

The company’s team in London and Cyprus has recently expanded by 20 new employees in order to support facilitate business growth.

BUX also stated that it plans to further expand its European footprint in the coming months and recently added crypto CFDs to its services, where clients can now trade crypto assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin.

The Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) announced this week the admission of 13-week Treasury bills with a total value of €37 million euros.

The bills do not bear interest rates and emerged from an auction held on March 18, 2022.

The CSE stated that it has also accepted the simultaneous listing of these Securities in the Central Depository and Central Register, in accordance with the provisions of paragraphs (1) and (3) of Article 10 of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange (Central Depository and Central Securities Register) laws.

Finally, the CSE states that their release date is March 24, 2022, and their trading will begin on the same day.

Tourist arrivals in February 2022 amounted to 71,921 people, reflecting a decrease of 32 per cent compared to February 2020, the period before the coronavirus outbreak in Cyprus, according to data from the Cyprus Statistical Service released on Wednesday.

For the period between January and February 2022, tourist arrivals amounted to 115,865 compared to 8,936 in the corresponding period of 2021, as well as the 191,214 arrivals recorded in the period between January and February 2020.

Compared to the first two months of 2020, tourist arrivals decreased by 39.4 per cent.

Arrivals from the United Kingdom were the main source of tourism for February 2022, accounting for 25.9 per cent (18,618) of total arrivals.

This was followed by arrivals from Greece with 12.2 per cent (8,771), Russia with 8 per cent (5,732), Ukraine with 7.9 per cent (5,711), Israel with 7.8 per cent (5,639) and Poland with 6.4 per cent (4,612).

Furthermore, 64 per cent of arrivals in February of this year came to Cyprus for holidays, 21.5 per cent to visit friends or relatives, while 14.5 per cent came to Cyprus for business purposes.

Respectively, for February 2021, 11.6 per cent visited Cyprus for holidays, 35.2 per cent to visit friends or relatives and 53.2 per cent for business reasons.

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) announced this week its participation for the first time in Global Money Week 2022 (GMW).

The annual global campaign seeks to highlight the importance of ensuring the financial education of young people, considered essential for making sound financial decisions, which ultimately serves to protect both investors and the general public.

According to the commission’s statement, Global Money Week, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, takes place between March 21-27 and is organised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The theme of this year’s GMW is ‘Build your future, be smart about money’.

On the occasion of this year’s Global Money Week, over 225 countries will come together to promote efforts aimed at financial education, financial resilience and prosperity, through a range of events and activities.

In Cyprus, a number of bodies have joined the campaign, with several events and activities being planned, under the coordination of the Central Bank of Cyprus.

The Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) ended Wednesday, March 23 with losses.

The main Cyprus Stock Market Index was at 65.50 points at 13:01 during the day, reflecting a drop of 1.09 per cent over the previous day of trading.

The FTSE / CySE 20 Index was at 39.34 points, which represents a decrease of 1.13 per cent.

The total value of transactions came up to €50,144.

In terms of the sub-indexes, the main and alternative indexes fell by 1.75 per cent and 0.05 per cent respectively, while the investment firm index dropped by a massive 5.28 per cent.

The hotel index remained stable.

The biggest investment interest was attracted by Vassiliko Cement Works (no change), Logicom (no change), the Bank of Cyprus (-1.46 per cent), Demetra Holdings (-5.7 per cent) and Atlantic Insurance (+0.55 per cent).