The PROFESSIONALS

NICOS PAVLIDES

Nicos Pavlides studied Economics and then Law (LLB) at the University of Sydney. After two years work for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in Sydney (2001-2002), he gained a Chevening scholarship and studied at the London School of Economics and the University College of London from where he obtained a Master of Laws degree (LLM) focusing on financial related legal subjects. At the same time, he was working for the Crown Prosecution Service in London, principally on cases of economic crime. He returned to Cyprus in 2003, and in 2004 he joined the CySEC legal department. In 2008, Nicos returned to the private sector, and since 2012, he is one of the executive directors of NAP, providing compliance and advisory services to issuers of listed titles and major investment firms.Nicos frequently contributes articles on legal and financial subjects published in high circulation daily newspapers. A number of his articles can be found on www.currentandlegal.com. In 2011, with the benefit of a Fulbright scholarship, he underwent further, specialized training in New York, focusing on obligations of listed issuers, and market abuse issues. 

MARIOS KYRIACOU 

Dr Marios Kyriacou has 20 years’ experience in the banking and financial services sector. He is consulting central banks, credit institutions, investment firms and investment funds as well as payment and electronic money institutions with regards to their optimal structure and set-up, licensing, and regulatory compliance. He is considered to be an expert in treasury risk management, counterparty credit risk measurement, operational risk management, capital adequacy matters, stress testing, and riskbased internal audit. Dr Kyriacou was previously the Head of Risk Management with Piraeus Bank (Cyprus) for nearly 8 years. He also worked for another eight years at the City of London as Risk Manager with BNP Paribas UK investment bank. Ph.D. and M.Phil. (Distinction) from Cambridge University on full scholarship, B.Sc. (First Class, Honours) from Warwick University, Chartered Statistician awarded by the UK Royal Statistical Society. He is a member of several professional associations, speaker at international risk events and the author of risk management articles published in professional or academic journals. He is currently appointed as a non-Executive Board member in regulated listed and non-listed financial entities, and lectures risk management topics to M.Sc. Finance and MBA students at the University of Cyprus.  

ANDREY AFANASIEV 

Dr Andrey Afanasiev has more than 25 years of experience in international banking and risk management. For nearly 10 years Dr Afanasiev was the Head of Risk Management at RCB Bank Ltd, which is a European systemically important financial institution operating in Cyprus. He has expert knowledge of the EU regulatory framework, as well as hands-on experience in management of market, credit, operational and liquidity risks. His expertise in risk management is based on a unique combination of solid academic background (PhD in Finance and PhD in Mathematics) and extensive international experience (Europe, Emerging Markets and Gulf countries). He is also FRM (Financial Risk Manager) certified from Global Association for Risk Professionals and PRM (Professional Risk Manager) certified from Professional Risk Managers’ International Association. 

DAMIANI PAPATHEODOTOU 

Mrs Damiani Papatheodotou is a Senior Consultant, primarily focusing in the provision of risk management advisory to banks and investments firms. She is an expert in CRR 1 and the coming CRR 2 as well as to the Basel standards. Previously, Damiani has worked for 2 years as an Analyst in AXIA Ventures Group’s Research Division specializing on macroeconomic and political research regarding Cyprus, as well as a number of European banks in Cyprus, Greece and Portugal. Damiani holds a BSc in International, European and Economic Studies from the University of Cyprus and an MSc in Finance also from the University of Cyprus where she specialized in banking risk management. Damiani’s master thesis focused on the determinants of Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) in the Eurozone post the 2007 crisis, while she is also the author of several articles published in professional journals. Mrs Papatheodotou has obtained the CySEC Financial Services Legal Framework “Advanced Certification” and is registered in the Public Register of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission. tries). 

ALKIS KONSTANTINOU

Mr Alkis Konstantinou is a Financial Services Consultant, primarily focusing in the provision of regulatory Compliance Support and Internal Audit services to regulated financial entities. Alkis holds a BSc in International, European and Economic Studies from the University of Cyprus where he graduated with honours. He is also a holder of a Master in Business Economics (MBE) also from the University of Cyprus where he specialized on International Business and Business Management. Mr. Konstantinou as part of his Masters program he completed a six months internship program at the Housing Finance Corporation (HFC) where he held the position of assistant in the Accounting Department of the Bank. 

THEODOSIS MOUROUZIS 

Dr Theodosis Mourouzis is a cryptologist and information security professional with strong interests in both academia and industry. He holds a BA/MA in Mathematics and a MSc in Pure Mathematics from the University of Cambridge, a MRes in Security Science and a PhD in Information Security with Specialisation in Cryptography from University College London. He was the first recipient in the UK Cyber Cipher Security Challenge in 2013 and he has represented Cyprus four times in Balkan & International competitions in Mathematics. Theodosis (Theo) is Managing Partner of Electi Consulting, a consultancy specialising in Blockchain and data analytics, Programme Director of MSc in Business Intelligence and Data Analytics at CIIM and Research Fellow at UCL CBT. In addition, he is  currently an advisor to the Cyprus government in Blockchain applications, and a member of the EU Blockchain Partnership Initiative organised by the European Commission. Dr. Mourouzis worked with leading companies and organisations such as Lloyd’s Maritime Academy, Lloyds Bank, US Navy, Technology Strategy Board (TSB), Centre for Defence Enterprise (CDE) and others.