AWARDS

LOUCAS MARANGOS

CEO, TFI Markets(Silver Sponsor)CHRYSSES

DEMETRIADESPartner, Chrysses

Demetriades& Co. LLC.

THIERRY NOYERGeneral

Manager, CarrefourCyprus

Marinopoulos SA

JAFFAR AGHA-JAFFAR

Managing Director, Prime Licensing

and Group Executive, TSYS

VASSILIS PETRIDES

CEO, Laiko

Cosmos(Silver

Sponsor)

SUNIL KAPOORDirector & General

Manager, FML Ship

Management Ltd

BJØRN TORE LARSENFounder,

OSM Group

MAXIM SAFONOV

Head of Global Markets,

ManagingDirector,

Sberbank CIB

Photo by Jo MichaelidesThe award winners, sponsors and organisers

were photographed at the Presidential Palace.

GOLD

THIS PRESTIGIOUS EVENT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT THE VALUABLE

CONTRIBUTION OF OUR SPONSORS

T H E F I R S T N A M E I N P R E C I S I O N

P E T R O S

We are one of the world’s largest independent providers of trust, fund and corporate administration services.

We are committed to helping our clients protect, nurture and grow their wealth.

Above all, we are a people business.

To find out more about our services and to get to know us better, visit

www.firstnames.com

8 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

T H E B U S I N E S S M A G A Z I N E O F C Y P R U S

I S S U E 5 2 J U L Y 1 4 - A U G U S T 1 3 , 2 0 1 5

C O N T E N T S10 | EDITORIAL

14 | BUSINESS BRIEFINGEconomic & Business Highlights of the past month 18 | MY WAY

19 | FIVE MINUTES WITH… Nikolaos Georgikopoulos

22 | THEY SAID WHAT?A selection of memorable recent quotes

24 | Cyprus Banking System – The Aftermath

56 | No Class Act

28 | A Passion for Innovation

Microsoft Central and Eastern European region

32 | Standing Out from the Crowd

34 | Taxing Issues

36 | Ecological Disaster and Reputational Damage

54 | Taxation of Upstream Oil & Gas Activities

58 | Don’t Panic!

84 | 15 Years On

86 | Exciting Times Ahead

88 | Quorum Needed!

90 | Overlooked and Unloved

92 | Committed to Excellence

business

95 | BOOKSHELF

96 | IN GOOD COMPANY

100 | LUNCH WITH GOLD

103 | BUSINESS CLASS

104 | WHAT’S ON

106 | A DAY IN THE LIFE

COVER STORY38 | 4th CIPA International

Investment AwardsPhotos from the event, profiles of the winners,

comments from the sponsors

SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL

FEATURE61 | Banking

in Cyprus

SPECIAL OFFERSubscribe today

for just €90 and get an annual subscription

to both Gold & IN Business Call us on

(+357) 22505555

OFFER INCLUDES

FREE ACCESS TO

DIGITAL EDITIONS

36

54

56

100

Going beyond the data: Achieving actionable business

insights with data and analytics

Today, the issue is no longer about owning the most data but rather

about how to gain the lost insight from it. In short, how to turn data

into insights, and insights into real business advantage. Data is

everywhere, telling us everything. But do companies really know

where to look? The reality is that turning mountains of data into

valuable, practical and actionable business analytics is not nearly as

straightforward as people believe.

Business leaders will also need to focus on ensuring that they

can count on the veracity of their data. In fact, we believe that,

as more and more unstructured and external data becomes

integrated into the organizational analytics, confidence in the

accuracy of their data – and the insights gleaned from the

data - will help ensure smarter business decisions.

KPMG combines deep industry experience, extensive

regulatory insight and a business-led view of Data &

Analytics to create winning strategies for our clients

helping them make the most of their data and

create valuable and reliable business insights. Our

people have the right Data & Analytics capabilities,

approaches and strategies to cut through the

complexities our clients are facing.

We set ourselves very high standards for delivering

the best service to our clients.

For more information please contact:

George TziortzisBoard Member

T: 22 209 336

E: georgetziortzis@kpmg.com

Gerasimos NtouskasSenior Manager

T: 22 209 041

E: gntouskas@kpmg.com

Visit our website at:

www.kpmg.com.cy

©2015 KPM

G Lim

ited, a Cyprus lim

ited liability company and m

ember of the KPM

G netw

ork of independent mem

ber firm

s affiliated with KPM

G International C

ooperative (”KPMG

International”), a Swiss entity. A

ll rights reserved.

10 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

| EDITORIAL |

John Vickers,Chief Editor

john@imhbusiness.com

Fourth Time Around

hen Gold magazine was launched more than 4 years ago, we approached the Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency (CIPA), which is the official body entrusted with the task of attracting

foreign investment to Cyprus, and proposed the creation of an award that would recognize the contribution of foreign companies and investors to the economy. The idea was wel-comed by CIPA and since 2012, a total of 36 CIPA International Investment Awards have been presented to companies, organisations and individuals as a tribute and a “thank you” for helping Cyprus gain a reputation for excellence as an International Business Centre.

Every year we have hosted the annual CIPA International Investment Awards at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia and devoted our cover story to a presentation of the event and the award winners. This year is no exception, though, as regular readers may have re-alised, for the past two years this special issue has been published in September. This year we decided to hold the event two months earlier for the simple reason that, after worries about the weather in 2014 (the award ceremony and gala dinner are held outdoors in the Presidential Palace gardens), we thought it safer to organise the awards in July when the likelihood of rain was much smaller. It proved to be the right decision.

I am pleased and proud to note that the CIPA International Investment Awards have become established as the most prestigious in Cyprus, with the annual ceremony seen as a genuine celebration of the successful collaboration between Cyprus and those who have demonstrated their confidence in the island and its economy in a tangible manner. You can see and read about the event in our coverage starting on page 38.

Another major event in Cyprus during the past month was the inauguration of the Microsoft Innovation Center at European University Cyprus and we have an interview with Don Grantham, President of the Microsoft Central and Eastern European region, who visited the island to attend the ceremony (page 28). Other recent visitors to the is-land were Michael Izza, CEO of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), who spoke to us about tax issues (page 34), and Ian Cox, the author of the bestseller Disrupt IT, who gave the keynote presentation at last month’s MTN con-ference entitled Integration of Telecoms with IT: Enabling and Inspiring Growth and spoke to Gold about the themes of his address and his book (page 58).

Since many of you will be taking some summer leave, we have recommended more than just business books for some holiday reading (page 96) and recommended a variety of cultural events, ranging from ancient Greek drama to a DJ set by Snoop Dogg. I believe that you will find plenty of interest in this month’s issue and, as always, I look forward to your comments and feedback.

MANAGING DIRECTOR George Michail

GENERAL MANAGER Daphne Roditou Tang

MEDIA MANAGERElena Leontiou

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF John Vickers

JOURNALISTSEffy Pafitis, Artemis Constantinidou

CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE Tonia Antoniou, Olga Chervinskaya,

Glen Richards, Savvas Savouri.Special thanks to Bo Concept for the furni-

ture used in this month’s cover photo

ART DIRECTION Anna Theodosiou

SENIOR DESIGNERAlexia Petrou

PHOTOGRAPHY Jo Michaelides

MARKETING EXECUTIVE Kevi Chishios

SALES & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT EXECUTIVE

Stavros EpifaniouADVERTISING EXECUTIVES

Irene Georgiou, Christopher ConstantinouOPERATIONS MANAGER

Voulla NicolaouSUBSCRIPTIONSMyria Neophytou

PRINTERS Cassoulides Masterprinters

CONTACT5 Aigaleo St., Strovolos 2057, Nicosia, Cyprus

Mailing address: P.O.Box 21185, 1503, Nicosia, Cyprus

Tel: +357 22505555, Fax: +357 22679820e-mail: gold@imhbusiness.com

subscriptions: goldsubscriptions@imhbusiness.comwww.imhbusiness.com

ISSN 1986 - 3543PUBLISHED BY IMH

hen Gold magazine was launched more than 4 ydW

SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

14 | GOLD | The Business Magazine of Cyprus

Microsoft Innovation Center Launch

CIM Becomes Full Member of ACUBritish High Commissioner Ric Todd hosted a cocktail reception at his residence earlier this month to mark the full membership of the Cyprus Institute of Market-ing (CIM) to the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU). The event was attended by guests from Government and the Education and Business Sectors. The ACU is the world’s first and oldest international university network, promoting and supporting excellence. It has a distinguished reputation for managing prestigious and inter-nationally renowned scholarship schemes.

BUSINESSBRIEFING

IN THE NEWS

LARNACA HOSTS MASS CIVIL WEDDING CEREMONYA total of 66 couples from Israel were married in a mass civil ceremony in Larnaca, with the town’s mediaeval castle as a backdrop. The couples, mainly from Israel and Russia, had travelled with friends and relatives on a cruise ship from Haifa to Larnaca. The ceremony was conducted by Deputy Mayor Petros Christodoulou. It was the

has hosted mass civil weddings, in cooperation with the Larnaca Tourism Development and Promotion Company.

EDUCATION

MARIOS CLERIDES

STAVROS PANTZARIS

ANTIGONE KORFIOTI

JAMEEL AHMAD

CHANGES

WEDDINGS

www.goldnews.com.cy | GOLD | 15

BIRTHDAY

Cytamobile-Vodafone Launches Russian Number Service

Cytamobile-Voda-fone has an-nounced the introduction of a

new service entitled Russian Number, which allows both pay monthly and Soeasy cus-tomers who receive frequent calls from Russia to obtain a Russian phone number in addition to their existing one. In this way, all phone calls to Russia will be charged local Russian call rates, as opposed to steep internation-al rates for Cyprus.

PostCy Introduces New VPN Packages

PostyCy Data Centre has re-leased a series of new packages

offering its premium Vir-tual Private Networking (VPN) solutions. “In a world where people travel more frequently for a vari-ety of reasons, the age-old concept of completing work from a home or office computer device is now invalid,” PostCy ex-plained. PostCy’s solution offers an uninterrupted VPN service, while the company is manned by a strong team of technicians dedicated to the resolution of any unexpected techni-cal errors, thus ensuring a smoother VPN experi-ence.

ANDREY & JULIA DASHIN’S FOUNDATION DONATION

APHILANTHROPY

LIMASSOL MARINA Celebrates First Year

L imassol Marina, the first – and only – luxury marina development on the island, marked its first year of op-erations on 19 June, exactly 12 months since President Nicos Anastasiades officially opened it. Since opening its gates to the public, it has

been attracting an average of 3,000 visitors daily. One year on, the waterfront development has also delivered its first villas with private berths or direct access to the beach, welcomed some of the world’s most distin-guished superyachts, established a thriving commu-nity at its spa and fitness club, all while extending its shop offering with world-renowned brands like Graff Diamonds, Halcyon Gallery, Vilebrequin and Shiraz.

TELECOMS

IRI Hellas Ltd.

tel: +30 210 4294 404 piraeus@register-iri.com

www.register-iri.com

THE MARSHALL ISLANDSCorporate Registry

The leading jurisdiction for:

Property Holdings