Following 24 months of intense collaboration with stakeholders, market leaders and other relevant parties, the project has been successfully completed and we are now pleased to explore the new go-to-market opportunities for the end deliverable of the Project – the Trustnexus platform.

The platform introduces a novel digital KYC (Know Your Customer) and KYB (Know Your Business) platform based on blockchain technology and AI. It shifts data authorization flow back to individuals and establishes a mutual approach for KYC checks and data sharing across industries. This comprehensive solution minimizes the risk of financial crime, puts data management in the hands of end-users, and improves accuracy and reduces compliance costs.

Trustnexus is a portal that simplifies access to services in ways that extend beyond simple onboarding and KYC. Operating via a federated community network of peer-verification, it creates a marketplace of services in a way that is easy, fast and secure for everyone involved. This novel approach opens the gateways to the future of KYC and e-identities, redefining onboarding with federated assurance and interoperability. With Trustnexus, users can create their own e-ID, manage your data, and decide who gets access to their personal data — no more, no less.

The solution is not just a tool; it’s a movement toward user empowerment, federated assurance, and interoperability. Trustnexus shifts control of data, to data owners, who decide to share uploaded information with specific providers in order to gain access to their services. At any point in time, users know what they have shared and with whom, and are free to revoke that consent.

The core values and principles upon which the solution is built are:

Pioneering Interoperability
A unified hub offering instant access to integrated third-party services. The Trustnexus portal streamlines KYC/KYB workflows across providers. Users gain access a marketplace of services with just one click.

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Our firm’s membership with GDF allows us to contribute to the advancement and adoption of market standards in the areas our firm operates, including innovation and technology, blockchain digital assets and digital identity, and collaborate in specialised working groups delivering unique outputs such as pilot regimes, codes of conduct and consultation responses. It further provides an engagement forum with global regulators and agencies to promote industry stewardship, regulatory certainty and meaningful compliance.

GDF members are at the forefront of creating market and conduct standards and best practices for digital finance participants in a shared engagement forum with market participants, policymakers and regulators.

We are proud to align ourselves with the GDF division, supporting the democratization of finance through digital assets and financial solutions.

For further insights on our collaboration with GDF and our role in advancing the global digital finance movement, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

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During the Ministerial Meeting, Mr. Hadjizacharias highlighted the importance of taking advantage of digital technologies and optimizing innovation capacity, in the interest of supporting sustainable growth. He mentioned that advanced digital technologies have already created significant benefits, notably in the form of increased efficiency, accuracy, timeliness, and convenience in a wide range of public services.

The Deputy Minister stressed that Cyprus is determined to achieve a green and digital transformation, accelerating the implementation of advanced technologies such as 5G, fiber optics, high-performance computing, and blockchain technology. He made special reference to AI, outlining Cyprus’ national strategy that includes implementing AI solutions in the public sector, in education and in crisis management, whilst drawing the attention of the delegates to the significant challenges entailed in the fields of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

It is reminded that in 2020, the Government of Cyprus approved a national AI strategy based on four main pillars: i) maximizing investments through partnerships, ii) creation of national data spaces, iii) promotion of talents and lifelong learning, and iv) development of an ethical and reliable AI.

At the same time, the proposed EU’s AI Regulation is at the final stages before adoption and is expected to become the world’s first comprehensive legal framework for ΑΙ.

Our firm invests heavily in innovation and was amongst the first law firms to lead the completion of a tender for the provision of technology and legal consulting services on the adoption of emerging technologies in the public sector.

Our Alternative Products service offering includes the provision of legal advisory services to innovative Research & Technology enterprises as well as their EU funded consortia. The developments on the AI regulatory and ethics compliance in these sectors are expected to heavily influence the workings and procedures of such consortia.

As a firm, we are regularly appointed to undertake the legal, regulatory and ethics management of local, national and EU Horizon 2020 funded projects and provide advice on the AI and ethics frameworks that may be applicable.

We look forward to the developments in this sphere and remain available to assist our clients in their engagement with innovative and emerging technologies, whilst in compliance with the applicable legal frameworks.

For more information or to discuss your business needs you may contact us directly at:

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Fintech 1.0

While in the initial version of FinTech (Fintech 1.0), companies started by offering services in peer-to-peer lending and payments, startup disruptors went a step further and focused on more innovative technologies like mobile payments, automated investing, retail banking and insurance specifically in the business-to-consumer (B2C) space.

EU developments

On March 2017, the European Commission launched a public consultation on Fintech seeking feedback on how to create “a more competitive and innovative European financial sector” that represented an important step towards a European Policy and regulatory framework for FinTech.

Further to the above, on September 2017, the Commission, conducted a public consultation on FinTech, in an attempt to grasp stakeholders’ input on methods of technological innovation. As it was illustrated in the summary of contributions, respondents expressed their broad support for an EU framework towards technological innovation in financial services.

The Commission’s Task Force on FinTech adopted an action plan in March 2018, that will help preserve the financial stability and ensure consumer protection, with the following aims:

• Enable innovative business models to scale up at EU level
• Support the uptake of new technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence and cloud services in the financial sector and,
• Increase cybersecurity and the integrity of the financial system

In June 2018, a group, known as the Expert Group on Regulatory Obstacles to Financial Innovation, was set up by the EC to review the application and suitability of the legal and regulatory framework in the field of fintech. The expert group focused on the following areas:

• Responding to new risks caused by the use of innovative technologies such as AI and distributed ledger technology
• Removing fragmentation across the EU and ensure a level playing field between different participants in the financial services sector as they leverage new technologies
• Reconciling data protection with the opportunities offered by fintech
• Considering the potential impact of fintech on consumers, from the perspective of financial inclusion and the ethical use of data

In addition, the report stressed the need for technological neutrality in pursuing the abovementioned aims.

The launch of European joint platform for EU sandboxes and innovation hubs did not come earlier than April 2019. EFIF (European Forum for Innovation Facilitators) aims to foster collaboration and experience sharing among European financial supervisors on their engagement with FinTech firms through sandboxes and innovation hubs.

European Commission is currently exploring how the financial sector can benefit from these developments, while remaining safe for consumers and investors.

Fintech Future

It is suggested that FinTech disruptors will not stop here but they will continue to expand in other practices like credit underwriting, digital cash, robo-advice, wealth management and tech innovations like blockchain. This disruption in financial services will unleash a great potential even for existing traditional institutions as this will lead to lower costs, more innovation and greater access for all.

The need for better, more efficient, personalized and more affordable, but equal level services, alongside the challenge for banks to continuously improve their services and create new innovative products are the main drivers of change for businesses adopting the FinTech mindset.

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