Answers to the questions clients and referrers actually ask.

Implemented Consulting is the model Citius Trust uses. The team that develops the strategy is the same team that executes it. Most advisory engagements end at the recommendation and a separate party is appointed to implement. At Citius Trust the engagement continues through to completion, with no handoff between firms.

One team carries the full mandate from strategy to delivery, with complete accountability for the outcome. Read more about the Implemented Consulting model.

Citius Trust provides advisory and execution across six integrated disciplines: M&A advisory on both buy and sell side; family wealth structuring and succession planning; international tax restructuring and redomiciliation to Cyprus; CySEC and Central Bank regulated entity licensing; banking optimisation and risk reclassification; and business advisory for cross-border and multi-authority engagements.

These disciplines are delivered under one engagement team rather than parcelled out to separate specialists.

Neither. Citius Trust is an Implemented Consulting firm. Accounting and audit capability sits within the firm as execution infrastructure through ICPAC licences, and legal expertise is employed in-house as part of integrated mandates. Citius Trust does not function as a standalone accounting practice, a Big Four or mid-tier audit firm, or a law firm. It does not hold a bar licence and it does not manage portfolios.

The correct classification is advisory that integrates multiple disciplines under one engagement team.

Three partners lead the firm. Costas Demetriades, FIA, is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and CySEC Advanced Certificate holder. His background includes structured fixed income at BNP Paribas London, Head of Treasury at Barclays Cyprus and Head of Risk Management at CNP Assurances Cyprus.

Inga Demetriades holds an LLM in International Commercial Law with a major in M&A and is completing an SDA Bocconi MBA. She specialises in CySEC licensing, cross-border M&A and family office advisory, and works in English, Greek, Latvian, Russian and Italian.

George Christofides, FCA, is a Fellow Chartered Accountant (ICAEW), former PwC International Tax Advisory, and a Non-Executive Director of G City Europe. He specialises in tax restructuring, regulated entity licensing and audit. See the partner biographies for more detail.

Citius Trust Limited holds three ICPAC licences under root number E708. The Practising Certificate E708/G/2015 authorises accounting services. The Auditing Certificate E708/A/2015 authorises statutory audits under International Standards on Auditing, including the independent auditor's report to CySEC on client asset adequacy and ISAE 3000 safeguarding assurance for Payment Institutions and EMIs. The Administrative Services Certificate E708/F/2015 authorises trust services, company administration, directorship and fiduciary execution.

Citius Trust is regulated and supervised by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus.

The mandate covers the full transaction arc, not just the advisory portion. On the sell side: preparation of the asset, market strategy, buyer identification and outreach, deal structuring, negotiation, due diligence coordination, documentation and closing. On the buy side: target identification and evaluation, approach strategy, structuring, negotiation, due diligence and execution through to completion.

The same engagement team remains in place from mandate to closing. There is no handoff at any point in the process.

Most Cyprus M&A transactions complete in six to eighteen months from mandate to closing. The range depends on asset complexity, the number of principals involved, the depth of due diligence required, and the condition of the asset at the start of the process.

Family-owned businesses with multiple shareholders typically take longer than single-owner transactions, because shareholder alignment is itself a workstream. Early preparation of the asset, governance documentation, financial records and shareholder alignment materially shortens timelines.

CySEC licensing begins with an operating model assessment to identify the appropriate licence type: CIF under MiFID II, AIFM under AIFMD, or a combination. Citius Trust then prepares the full application bundle: business plan, policies and procedures, risk framework, capital adequacy analysis, fit and proper documentation and governance arrangements.

From a well-prepared file, the CySEC timeline to authorisation is typically nine to fifteen months. Rushed or template-driven applications are regularly delayed or rejected. The choice of licence type is the most common source of error. See the CySEC licensing analysis for further detail.

A Cyprus Investment Firm licence under MiFID II authorises a firm to provide investment services directly to clients: portfolio management, investment advice, reception and transmission of orders, execution of orders, placing and underwriting. An Alternative Investment Fund Manager licence authorises a firm to manage alternative investment funds.

The correct choice depends on the operating model, the client base and the investment strategy. Some structures require both licences. The wrong choice adds months and significant cost to the authorisation process.

Under paragraph 10 of Directive DI87-01 every Cyprus Investment Firm must obtain an annual independent auditor's report to CySEC confirming the adequacy of its client asset safeguarding arrangements. The report covers client financial instruments held in custody, client funds held in bank accounts, and the three-level reconciliation process required by Circular C418.

It is issued by an ICPAC-registered auditor and submitted to CySEC as part of the firm's annual regulatory reporting obligations. Citius Trust holds the ICPAC Auditing Certificate and issues this report.

Payment Institutions and Electronic Money Institutions licensed by the Central Bank of Cyprus must safeguard client funds, either by holding them in dedicated accounts at a credit institution or by covering them with an insurance policy or bank guarantee. Independent safeguarding assurance is an ISAE 3000 limited assurance engagement in which an independent practitioner reports whether the firm's safeguarding arrangements comply with the applicable regulatory requirements.

Citius Trust holds the ICPAC Auditing Certificate and provides this assurance. See the safeguarding analysis for further detail.

A Cyprus company must demonstrate genuine economic activity in Cyprus to access treaty benefits, EU directive protections and tax residency status. Substance means a real registered office with actual use (not a nameplate), at least one qualifying resident director who actively manages the company from Cyprus, board meetings held and minuted in Cyprus, active bank accounts managed locally, and accounting records maintained in Cyprus.

The substance test applies across entity types, including holding companies, trading companies, fund managers and intermediate structures. Nominal arrangements and nominee-only directorships no longer satisfy the standard under the EU Unshell Directive (ATAD 3) or current Cyprus practice. See the substance analysis for further detail.

Redomiciliation transfers a company's registered jurisdiction to Cyprus without dissolving and re-incorporating the entity. The company carries its legal history with it: existing contracts, banking relationships, intellectual property ownership and operating track record all remain within the same legal entity.

Cyprus law provides a clear framework for inbound redomiciliation. Citius Trust manages the full process from initial legal and tax analysis through registration, substance establishment, banking arrangements and ATAD compliance.

Article 21(2) of the Cyprus-Greece Double Tax Treaty provides for an underlying tax credit. Where a Greek resident receives dividends from a Cyprus company in which it holds a qualifying participation, Greece credits not only the Cyprus withholding tax (if any) but also the underlying corporate tax paid by the Cyprus company on the profits from which the dividend was distributed.

The credit has been available under the treaty since 1968 and is regularly missed in practice. Claiming it properly requires coordinated structuring, documentation and the correct Greek tax filing. See the DTT credit analysis for further detail.

No. Greek Law 2961/2001 follows Greek nationals on worldwide movable assets, including shares in Cyprus companies. A Cyprus holding structure does not, on its own, resolve the inheritance tax exposure.

Relief depends on meeting specific Greek statutory conditions — notably the 10-year and 20-year non-residence exemptions — and on correct structural and documentation choices. The right outcome requires a joined-up analysis of Greek domestic law, the Cyprus-Greece DTT and the actual ownership and residency history of the individuals involved. See the Greek nationals inheritance tax article for further detail.

Family advisory at Citius Trust is strategic and structural, not administrative. It covers wealth structuring, succession planning across generations, shareholders agreements that anticipate real-world tensions rather than theoretical ones, trust and estate arrangements including Cyprus International Trusts, family governance frameworks, and design of the right separation between ownership rights and earned reward in operating businesses.

The firm does not manage investments or act as a family office administrator. It advises the family on how the structural and governance architecture should be designed, and then implements it.

Yes. Banking terms are not fixed at origination. A client whose risk profile has materially improved — through successful exits, completed developments, secured long-term income streams, structural simplification or reduced leverage — has grounds to request a reclassification and renegotiation.

Banks do not proactively offer better terms when a borrower's profile improves. The adjustment has to be requested and supported by a clear, credible risk presentation. Citius Trust's banking optimisation practice manages the preparation, presentation and negotiation with credit committees.

Banks operate under a risk and compliance framework shaped by correspondent banking pressure, regulatory enforcement history and the cost of managing complex files. Cross-border clients with international beneficial owners, multi-jurisdictional flows or complex operating histories generate a compliance cost that banks increasingly decline to absorb at current fee levels.

The problem is rarely the client. It is that the client's risk profile no longer matches what the bank's compliance infrastructure accommodates at current cost. Proactive documentation and a structured banking presentation usually resolve this where it is resolvable. See the banking relationships analysis for further detail.

Yes. Citius Trust works with clients across the EU, UK and internationally. This includes families with multi-jurisdictional structures, businesses redomiciling to or from Cyprus, foreign investors acquiring Cyprus-based assets, and organisations seeking CySEC or Central Bank of Cyprus licensing.

The team works in English, Greek, Latvian, Russian and Italian. Greece is the firm's primary secondary market. UK, EU and GCC engagements are handled routinely.

Engagement terms are structured on a case-by-case basis depending on scope, complexity and duration. Fee arrangements may be fixed, time-based, retainer-based, or success-linked for transactional work. The right structure is agreed before the mandate begins, in writing, with clear scope and deliverables.

To begin a conversation about an engagement, contact the firm directly at info@citiustrust.com or +357 22 552 600.

Lawyers, private bankers, wealth managers, accountants and fiduciary companies are the firm's primary referral sources. A direct introduction by email or phone is sufficient. Citius Trust works with the referring professional rather than replacing them: the referrer retains their client relationship and remains involved where relevant.

Contact info@citiustrust.com or +357 22 552 600 to make an introduction.