The prospects that open up in the Cypriot economy and the investment ecosystem of our country from the decision of the Japanese giant "MUFG Investors Services" to establish its base in Cyprus, spoke the President of CIFA, Andreas Giasemidis in the insert of Economy Today.
Mr. Giasemidis also referred to interesting information about the background of the MUFG decision to finally "vote" for Cyprus.
MUFG, as mentioned in a previous publication of Economy Today, manages more than 3.000 investment funds. It has $ 785 billion in assets and belongs to the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group with $ 3,2 trillion in assets.
Barker for the huge market of Asia
Apart from the jobs, the descent of the colossus creates direct and indirect side benefits for the Cypriot economy. For example, the revenues that the state will have from the various taxes such as corporate tax, social security, etc.
An important benefit is the fact that an example is created for other companies of this range, to follow the MUFG in Cyprus.
According to Mr. Giasemidis, the decision of MUFG will act as a barrier for the huge Asian market, with the result that several managers and investment funds will choose Cyprus as their gateway to Europe.
MUFG's efforts, in particular, will be to establish a base for the Middle East, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Jobs
As for the jobs that will be created, according to Mr. Giasemidis, they are estimated at about 100 initially, while in the long run "it will have more than 500 - 600 employees".
Background and procedures
The process of convincing a company of this range and especially at this juncture, to come to Cyprus is not at all easy. The company, as Mr. Giasemidis said, was in the process of finding a new business center in Europe "and we fought hard enough to convince them that Cyprus is the ideal destination. We analyzed the advantages of Cyprus, the economic part where the cost of establishing and operating the base here in Cyprus, is compared favorably with other European countries, but also the fact that Cyprus has been established as a hub for investment funds.
The effort to convince the MUFG people took several months. Several meetings had to be held - mainly via the internet due to the pandemic - and the parameters of the creation of a base in Cyprus were analyzed in detail. In addition, according to Mr. Giasemidis, all the information requested and developed by CIFA were the arguments that make Cyprus the most suitable destination.
The CEO of Greek origin
As for whether the company finally "voted" for Cyprus because its CEO is of Greek origin, Mr. Giasemidis noted that "any CEO in any company can not see in this way any decisions. If it did not make sense for "MUFG Investors Services" to establish a base in Cyprus, as much as the CEO wanted, the decision could not be made for a country that does not have the appropriate ecosystem; in the end the CEO will be judged by the shareholders for any decision of his "