Cyprus' ‘bad reputation’ is a thorn in the side of the professional services sector

The effects on the professional services sector of Cyprus from the sanctions imposed by the USA and the UK are significant while an even bigger "thorn" in the side of the professional services sector is the ‘bad reputation’ the island has acquired.

The above concerns were raised during a panel discussion held at the 8th Cyprus Professional Services Conference, presented by Bank of Cyprus. The expert panel highlighted the impact on the professional services sector in Cyprus following the imposition of sanctions. Also, the participants in the panel suggested that immediate measures be implemented to improve the reputation of Cyprus, which has suffered recently with significant effects on the attraction of foreign companies.

Participants in the panel were Georgia Constantinou-Panayiotou, Board Member Cyprus Bar Association, Evgenios Evgeniou, Chairman, Invest Cyprus, Michalis Persianis, Chairman of the Fiscal Council, Chris Koutouroussis, President of the Cyprus Fiduciary Association and Pieris Markou, former President of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus.

Georgia Constantinou-Panayiotou spoke about the ramifications of the sanctions and how the entire industry, not just professional services, was affected by them, pointing out the huge impact recorded on the economy. She stated that the role of the Cyprus Bar Association was to guide those affected so that the impact was as small as possible.

Constantinou-Panayiotou also emphasised the need for a collective effort to manage the challenges that arise with a common framework, as well as the need to maintain a good reputation and name for our country.

Evgenios Evgeniou took the baton to talk about the strategy of Invest Cyprus, which aims to attract investments and how it "looks forward instead of back". "We deal with IT companies and at the moment in Cyprus there is a cluster that contributes more than 10% to the economy and employs staff," he said, adding that other clusters, such as biomedicine, are gradually also being created.

"Our vision is in this context the utilisation of professional services," he added. He admitted that Cyprus has high indicators in international ratings, with the exception of its reputation, where it needs immediate improvement.

Chris Koutouroussis said that CYFA has always supported transparency and sustainable development. He, in turn, spoke about the importance of reputation in the professional services sector, saying that in the past foreign companies and investors having a preference for Cyprus was a given, while now they are having second thoughts.

"Let's look beyond the sanctions and build a good reputation," he said. Also, regarding the sanctions, he anticipates that there will be more in the future and therefore we must be flexible and realise that many of them "have come to stay."

Pieris Markou explained that the big challenge is to ask ourselves whether we can serve someone legally and whether we should be serving them at all. He then said: "In Cyprus we have to invest in our reputation".

He called on every organisation in the industry to be aware of the risks and invest in technology, as well as in a database, so that correct decisions can be made about whether or not they can or should offer services to a prospective client. "We have to make sure that a monitoring mechanism is implemented," he added.

Michalis Persianis spoke about the effect of the sanctions on the country's economy. According to him, "our capacity to comply was low, both in the public and private sectors."

However, he stressed that "the quality we have as an economy in terms of compliance has increased tremendously in recent years." "Many businesses and banks, lawyers, and professional services have done an amazing job and we can do even better by pursuing sustainability and not increasing profit but keeping it stable over the years," he added.

Persianis also said that the cost of our reputation is much greater than one might think, and therefore we must correct situations and look further ahead.

The discussion was moderated by Haris Pistos, Director, International Banking, Bank of Cyprus.