Destination Cyprus: Asian Funds Make Island Their Europe Gateway
For many investments funds from Asia, Cyprus has become a gateway to Europe.
Drawn by its location -- straddling the regions of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa and with access to Eastern Europe, Russia and former Soviet republics -- flexible legislation and lower costs, Asian funds are using Cyprus for their single European Union passport for investment across the bloc.
"There is an increasing trend for funds from countries who traditionally didn’t have strong economic ties with Cyprus such as China, India and even Japan, to establish a base in the country as their gateway to the EU,"
The number of investment funds and assets under management have hit record highs, according to the Central Bank of Cyprus. At the end of March the number of funds rose to 123 from 110 at end December. Total assets under management rose by about 29 percent to 4.45 billion euros ($5.24 billion) from 3.45 billion euros. In Dec., 2008 there were 55 funds with 1.23 billion euros in assets under management.