Bringing it one step closer to meeting the EU pensions directive the island’s parliament passed a draft law “regarding the establishment, operation and supervision of pension funds,” Cyprus’ business newspaper Financial Mirror reports.

From now on pension funds will have to seek professional investment advice and have to diversify their asset allocation “including financial instruments listed on regulated stock markets”.

The paper analyses that under the new regulations more pension fund money will flow into domestic equities. “We note that at present the biggest part of these funds is in time deposits with banks and cooperative institutions.