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loan approvals halved since 2008

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loan approvals halved since 2008

British small businesses are being approved for bank loans at less than half the rate they enjoyed before the financial crisis, and one of Donald Trump’s former economic advisers says the fault lies not with the 2008 crash but with the rules written in its aftermath.

Tyler Goodspeed, who chaired the White House’s council of economic advisers from 2020 to 2021 and is now chief economist at Exxon Mobil, argues that post-crisis regulation forcing banks to hold more capital, rather than the depth of the recession, is the main reason Britain’s recovery has trailed the United States.

“For 15 years, British policymakers have told themselves that a slow recovery was simply the price of a deep recession. It isn’t,” Goodspeed says in a paper for the free-market Institute of Economic Affairs.

“History shows deep recessions are usually followed by strong rebounds. Britain’s experience after 2009 departed from this pattern because regulators, with the best of intentions, made it structurally harder for banks to lend to British businesses. That was a choice, and it is still being made today.”

His central figure will sting any owner who has pitched a bank for growth capital. Credit to smaller companies in the United States clawed its way back to 2008 levels by 2013; in the UK it remains 15 per cent below pre-crisis volumes. British lenders, he says, have pulled back from the real economy and switched instead to “low-risk lending to governments”.

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The consequences land hardest on the youngest, most ambitious firms, the ones the government keeps saying it wants more of.

“This matters because smaller, younger enterprises looking to expand may struggle to access credit through conventional bank loans because they lack credit history and physical assets that they might pledge as collateral,” Goodspeed says. “To illustrate this point, one might consider tech companies, whose primary assets are intangible, namely, their ideas. Without non-bank sources of credit, many such firms may be unable to access external financing, and instead be forced to rely on cash flow and retained earnings.”

That reliance is sharper here than across the Atlantic. UK firms lean far more heavily on bank funding than American peers, who can tap deeper capital markets and pools of private credit, private equity and venture capital. When the bank says no, many British SMEs have nowhere else to turn.

The picture Goodspeed paints is one Business Matters readers will recognise. Ministers have already hauled the big bank chiefs in for talks over shrinking access to credit, and the government has run a review into the supply of SME debt finance. The retreat of the high street has left challenger banks holding 60 per cent of the SME lending market, a share that was unthinkable before the crisis.

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Goodspeed’s verdict is blunt. The decline in bank lending to firms is a “searing indictment of UK financial policy over the past 15 years. Before 2008, approval rates for new bank loan applications by small and medium-sized UK businesses were often 80-90 per cent. By 2024, that had dropped to fewer than half,” he says.

Some of the post-crisis architecture is now being dismantled. The Bank of England has loosened rules on banker bonuses and signalled it will ease capital requirements for lenders, the buffers of cash and assets banks must hold against their lending. The previous Labour government, under Sir Keir Starmer, said it would also relax the post-2008 “ringfencing” rules that forced banks to separate retail banking from riskier investment activity, a change the industry has long wanted.

Whether looser rules translate into more loans for the corner-shop expansion or the software start-up remains the open question. For Goodspeed, the direction of travel matters less than the admission underneath it: that Britain’s credit drought was made in Whitehall, and can be unmade there too.


Jamie Young

Jamie Young

Jamie Young is Senior Reporter at Business Matters, covering SME finance, employment law and Westminster policy since 2016. He has reported on every Budget and Autumn Statement since 2018, helped make sense of the ‘covid era’ and the bounce-back loan scheme from launch through the fraud investigations, and broke the magazine’s coverage of the 2024 late-payment reforms. He joined Business Matters straight from completing his BA in Administration from Exeter University and is NCTJ-qualified. Reach him at jyoung@cbmeg.co.uk

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Earnings call transcript: OneSource Specialty Pharma posts strong Q1 2027 growth

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The Business of Online Gaming and its Growing Demand

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The Business of Online Gaming and its Growing Demand

The online gaming industry has come a long way over the last decade. What was once a fairly niche form of entertainment has developed into a global business that attracts millions of players every day. The business of online gaming is truly booming.

Whether you enjoy sports games, adventure titles, simulation experiences or gambling, there’s now far more choice than ever before. Gaming companies are no longer creating games for one specific audience. Instead, they’re developing experiences for players with all kinds of interests.

More Niches Mean More Opportunities

One of the biggest reasons online gaming continues to grow is because there is something for almost everyone. Years ago, your options were fairly limited and new releases didn’t appear nearly as often. Today, the industry covers a huge range of genres, giving you so many different games to enjoy.

For example, sports games remain popular, allowing you to experience football, motorsport, tennis, cricket and many other sports in a digital format. Just think of how big FIFA and NBA have become in the PlayStation world. Adventure games also continue to work for those who enjoy exploring detailed worlds, following storylines and completing challenges along the way.

Simulation games have also carved out a large audience. Whether you’re managing a business, building a city or creating your own virtual environment, these games offer a completely different experience from more traditional titles. Strategy games remain another favourite, rewarding careful planning and smart decision-making rather than quick reactions alone.

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Casino gaming has also become an established part of the wider online gaming industry. Alongside sports betting platforms, online casino games continue to evolve, offering everything from classic table games to modern slot titles and live dealer experiences. Every niche has its own audience and together they create an industry that appeals to far more people than ever before.

Better Technology Keeps Raising the Standard

It’s impossible to talk about the growth of online gaming without recognising the role technology has played. Every improvement in consumer technology gives gaming companies more opportunities to create better products.

Take smartphones, for example. They are faster, more powerful and have much better displays than they did just a few years ago. The same can be said for televisions. Higher resolutions, improved sound quality and larger screens have transformed the way many people enjoy console gaming at home.

Gaming consoles have continued to evolve as well. Each new generation introduces improved graphics, quicker loading times and more powerful hardware, allowing developers to create larger, more detailed worlds than ever before.

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Even accessories have improved. Better controllers, comfortable headsets and high-quality monitors all help enhance the experience, while faster broadband connections make online multiplayer gaming more reliable.

Gaming Has Never Been More Accessible

Another major reason for the industry’s success is how easy it has become to access games.

Not that long ago, new releases often felt like major events because they arrived far less frequently. Now, there always seems to be another game launching. Large studios release blockbuster titles throughout the year, while smaller independent developers regularly introduce creative ideas that find their own audiences.

Buying games has changed just as much. Instead of heading to a shop, you can browse digital stores, compare titles, read reviews and download a game within minutes.

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Subscription services have added another layer of convenience by giving players access to extensive libraries of games through a single membership. This encourages you to experiment with genres you might not normally choose.

Mobile gaming has also helped make the industry even more accessible. Since most people already own a smartphone, trying a new game often takes very little effort.

Social Media Has Become Part of the Business Strategy

Building a successful game is only part of the challenge. Getting people talking about it has become just as important.

That’s why so many gaming businesses now use social media as a key part of their marketing strategy. Long before a game launches, developers often share teaser trailers, gameplay clips and behind-the-scenes updates to build excitement within the gaming community.

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Content creators and streamers have also become valuable partners for many publishers. Watching someone else play a game gives potential players a better understanding of what to expect, helping them decide whether it’s something they’d enjoy. Gaming companies are also collaborating with sports organisations, entertainment brands and well-known personalities to introduce their games to wider audiences.

An Industry That Shows No Signs of Slowing Down

Online gaming has grown into far more than just a form of entertainment. It has become a major global business supported by technological innovation, creative development and changing consumer habits.

Looking ahead, the business of online gaming appears well placed to continue its steady growth. As technology evolves and developers continue responding to player interests, the industry is likely to remain one of the most exciting and dynamic areas of the digital entertainment market for many years to come.

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Retirement planning at 50: How a Rs 1.3 crore bond portfolio can generate nearly Rs 1 lakh a month

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Retirement planning at 50: How a Rs 1.3 crore bond portfolio can generate nearly Rs 1 lakh a month
For many Indians, retirement planning has traditionally revolved around a familiar playbook—fixed deposits for safety, gold and real estate for wealth preservation, and a gradual reduction in equity exposure.

But with longer life expectancy, inflation and evolving investment options, financial experts believe retirees need a more balanced approach that prioritises income stability, liquidity and long-term growth.

While there is no one-size-fits-all retirement portfolio, experts say the focus should shift from chasing an arbitrary retirement corpus to assigning every rupee a specific role.

There is no ‘ideal’ retirement corpus

Retirement planning often gets reduced to a single question: How much money is enough? Social media is flooded with claims that Indians need ₹15 crore or ₹20 crore to retire comfortably, creating anxiety among investors.
However, according to the Jiraaf Research Team, retirement adequacy depends far more on lifestyle, monthly expenses, city of residence, healthcare needs and dependents than on a headline number.

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The research team points out that a couple planning to retire in their early to mid-50s with monthly expenses of around ₹1 lakh may be adequately served with a retirement corpus of ₹4-5 crore, assuming a retirement horizon of nearly three decades.
However, the requirement could rise to ₹8-10 crore for those living in metros like Mumbai or Bengaluru or seeking a premium lifestyle with monthly expenses closer to ₹2 lakh. This, they argue, makes blanket retirement targets such as ₹15 crore less meaningful.

Why bonds work well for retirement income

Bonds bring predictability to retirement planning. Investors know the coupon, expected cash flow, and maturity date. This helps create a clearer income plan.For example, if a retired couple needs around ₹90,000 a month, a ₹1.3 crore bond portfolio earning 9% can generate about ₹97,500 a month before tax.

That can cover regular expenses without forcing the investor to sell equity funds during a market correction.

1ETMarkets.com

A three-bucket framework

According to Nishchay Nath, Founder & CEO of BondScanner, instead of searching for an ideal asset allocation, retirees should think of their portfolio as serving three distinct purposes.

The first is a safety bucket, which should hold around two to three years of living expenses in highly liquid instruments such as savings accounts, short-term fixed deposits and liquid mutual funds. This ensures that essential expenses are insulated from market volatility and do not require investors to sell long-term assets during unfavourable conditions.

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The second is the income bucket, where high-quality fixed-income instruments play a central role. Nath suggests creating a laddered bond portfolio by investing across government securities and AAA-rated corporate bonds with staggered maturities over several years. As bonds mature periodically, they generate cash flows that can either fund annual expenses or be reinvested depending on prevailing interest rates.

He notes that bonds have historically remained underutilised by Indian retirees not because they were unsuitable, but because the corporate bond market was largely designed for institutional investors with high minimum investment thresholds. Many investors were familiar with fixed deposit rates but remained unaware that bonds issued by government-backed institutions could offer comparable returns while becoming increasingly accessible to retail investors.

Don’t abandon growth completely

One common mistake retirees make is exiting equities entirely once they stop working.

Nath believes that retirement today can last 20 to 30 years, particularly for those retiring in their 50s. Over such long periods, inflation continues to erode purchasing power, making a disciplined allocation to equities essential even after retirement.

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Rather than eliminating growth assets, he recommends gradually reducing equity exposure with age while increasing allocations to safety and income-oriented investments. The objective is to balance regular cash flows with long-term capital appreciation.

Fixed income isn’t only for retirees

The importance of fixed income extends beyond retirement planning.

According to Vineet Agarwal, Co-Founder of investment platform Jiraaf, there is a widespread misconception that fixed-income investments are relevant only for retirees. He argues that every investor, regardless of age or life stage, should allocate a portion of their portfolio to relatively stable, low-volatility assets to improve diversification and reduce overall portfolio risk.

Such allocations can provide stability during periods of market turbulence while complementing growth-oriented investments.

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Give every rupee a purpose

Financial planners increasingly believe that successful retirement planning is less about finding the perfect asset allocation and more about defining the purpose of each investment.

A well-structured retirement portfolio should ensure immediate liquidity for emergencies, generate predictable income to meet regular expenses and continue participating in long-term economic growth to preserve purchasing power.

Rather than chasing a universal retirement corpus, investors may benefit more from building a portfolio aligned with their own lifestyle, financial obligations and risk appetite.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)

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Will GameStop Ever Actually Buy eBay? Inside Ryan Cohen’s $56 Billion Takeover Bid and What Comes Next

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The eBay app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken

GameStop’s pursuit of eBay has stretched into its third month, and the video game retailer shows no sign of walking away, even as the e-commerce giant continues to reject its advances. The saga, one of the more unusual corporate takeover attempts in recent memory, has left investors and analysts split on whether a deal will ever materialize.

How the bid began

GameStop Chief Executive Ryan Cohen submitted a non-binding proposal to eBay’s board on May 3, offering $125 per share in a cash-and-stock deal that valued the online marketplace at roughly $55.5 billion. The offer represented a 46% premium to eBay’s closing price on February 4, the day GameStop began quietly building its stake in the company. GameStop disclosed it had accumulated a 5% economic interest in eBay through a combination of derivatives and direct stock ownership ahead of making the offer public.

The proposed structure called for the deal to be split evenly between cash and GameStop common stock, with eBay shareholders given the ability to choose which form of consideration they wanted to receive. Cohen pointed to GameStop’s roughly $9.4 billion in cash reserves and said he had secured a commitment letter from TD Securities for up to $20 billion in additional debt financing.

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eBay says no

eBay’s board rejected the proposal on May 12, calling it “neither credible nor attractive” in a letter signed by board chairman Paul Pressler. The company cited its ongoing turnaround under CEO Jamie Iannone, which has focused on higher-margin categories such as trading cards, collectibles and pre-owned luxury goods, as evidence that eBay was better positioned as a standalone business. eBay noted that its shares were up sharply for the year and said it had “delivered meaningful results” through its current strategy.

The size mismatch between the two companies drew immediate skepticism from Wall Street. At the time of the offer, GameStop’s market value stood at roughly $10 billion to $12 billion, while eBay’s was closer to $46 billion to $48 billion — meaning GameStop was proposing to buy a company roughly four times its own size using a mix of borrowed money and its own stock.

GameStop keeps buying, keeps pushing

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Rather than retreat after the rejection, GameStop has steadily increased its position in eBay. A regulatory filing showed the company’s stake had grown to nearly 10% by mid-July, after GameStop purchased millions of additional shares in June and converted options covering 39 million more shares into common stock. In a filing this month, GameStop reiterated its commitment to pursuing the deal, even as it declined to say how it planned to move the transaction forward.

Cohen has also made changes at GameStop that observers have linked to the eBay push. In June, the company’s board withdrew a proposed executive compensation package for Cohen that could have paid him as much as $35 billion in stock if he hit certain performance targets, with the company citing his focus on the eBay effort. The withdrawal came shortly after a shareholder filed a proposed class-action lawsuit seeking to block a vote on the pay package, which GameStop has said it intends to fight.

Cohen holds his ground publicly

In a Bloomberg Television interview on July 16, Cohen declined to say whether he would raise his offer, but made clear he has not given up. “We’re coming for eBay one way or another,” he said. Pressed further on his strategy, Cohen added, “I’m not going to negotiate against myself,” signaling he has no intention of bidding against his own initial offer without a response from eBay’s board. Cohen also described his broader ambitions for a combined company, saying he envisions building it into a business worth $1 trillion by tying GameStop’s collectibles business to eBay’s marketplace reach.

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Why analysts remain doubtful

Despite Cohen’s public confidence, most analysts covering the situation continue to question whether GameStop can realistically complete a deal of this size. Brian Quinn, a professor at Boston College Law School, said the offer amounted to little more than a distraction for eBay’s board, arguing that without a substantial cash commitment, the proposal was “only a promise of a ride on the meme-coaster.” Eden Chen, chief executive of gaming software company FirstLook, framed the core problem more simply, asking, “How does a $10 billion company take over a $50 billion company?”

The financing structure remains a central sticking point. GameStop’s offer relies heavily on issuing its own stock as partial payment, a structure that ties the deal’s value directly to GameStop’s often-volatile share price — a risk eBay’s board specifically flagged in its rejection letter, along with questions about how the combined company would be led and how Cohen’s compensation would be structured.

GameStop has signaled it may eventually take its case directly to eBay shareholders rather than continuing to negotiate solely with the company’s board, a move that would escalate the standoff into a more public campaign. Whether that translates into a formal tender offer, a proxy fight, or simply continued share accumulation remains unclear. For now, eBay’s board has shown no indication it plans to reconsider, while GameStop has shown no indication it plans to stop buying shares or making its intentions known.

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Investors in both companies are left watching a takeover attempt that defies typical patterns: an unsolicited, partly stock-financed bid from a smaller company for one nearly five times its size, sustained months after being publicly and firmly rejected. Whether persistence alone can eventually change eBay’s calculus — or whether GameStop’s campaign fades the way many rejected takeover bids do — is likely to become clearer in the months ahead as GameStop continues building its stake and eBay continues executing its own turnaround plan.

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How UK Freelancers Are Diversifying Income Through Trading

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Search for “AI project ideas” online and you’ll find hundreds of suggestions, from building chatbots to generating artwork.

If you’re a freelancer in the UK, you’ll know the feeling. A great quarter comes in, you pay yourself well, and then the next two months are quiet. Your savings sit in a current account earning next to nothing, and you start wondering whether that money could be doing more while you line up the next contract.

With over 4.5 million people now working for themselves across the UK, more self-employed professionals are turning to trading as a way to put idle capital to work.

Why Trading Clicks with the Self-Employed

Freelancers already think in terms of risk and reward. You quote for a project, weigh up the time it’ll take, and decide whether it’s a good bet. Trading follows a similar logic, just applied to financial markets instead of client work.

You also control your own schedule. Swing trading, where you hold positions for a few days or weeks, fits around client work without demanding constant attention. And if you’ve survived a dry spell and come out the other side, you already have the temperament for managing risk.

The Cash Flow Factor

Here’s the thing most trading guides don’t mention: freelancers don’t have a steady monthly salary. Your income spikes and dips, which makes traditional investing advice tricky to follow. Regular monthly contributions into an index fund sound great in theory, but they’re hard to stick to when your March invoice doesn’t get paid until June.

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That means liquidity has to come first. You need to know you can close positions quickly and withdraw funds without long delays. Position sizing also matters more than usual. Risking 5% of your capital on a single trade might be fine for someone with a guaranteed paycheque. For a freelancer, that same 5% could be next month’s tax bill.

Spread Betting and the Tax Angle

For UK freelancers, spread betting deserves a close look. HMRC classifies spread bets as gambling, not investing, which means profits are exempt from Capital Gains Tax and Stamp Duty for most retail traders. You don’t need to report them on your self-assessment return either.

That’s a genuine advantage when you’re already managing income tax, National Insurance, possibly VAT, and Making Tax Digital requirements. Adding CGT calculations on top of all that is one more headache. Spread betting sidesteps it entirely.

There’s a catch, though. You can’t offset spread betting losses against other gains. And if HMRC decided your activity looked more like a full-time business than occasional speculation, they could reclassify your profits as taxable income. In practice, this is rare for retail traders, but keep it in mind.

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Get Your Platform Right First

One mistake new traders make is jumping straight into placing trades without sorting their setup. The charting platform you use will shape how you analyse markets and manage risk. TradingView has become the go-to for many UK traders because it combines powerful charting with an interface that doesn’t overwhelm beginners, and it runs in a browser, so you can check charts between client calls on a laptop.

The real efficiency gain comes when your charting platform connects directly to your broker. Instead of analysing on one screen and executing on another, you can place trades straight from your charts. Several UK-regulated brokers now support this, and comparing brokers that integrate with TradingView will help you find one that matches your preferred markets and fee structure.

Treat It Like a Business Decision

Trading fits the freelance mindset because it rewards patience, discipline, and knowing when to walk away. Start small, track everything, and keep your trading capital completely separate from your emergency buffer. The goal isn’t to replace client work. It’s to make dead capital productive without putting your business at risk.

Done properly, trading can turn those quiet months into something more than just waiting for the next invoice to land.

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Violent crypto attacks rise as criminals hunt bigger payouts

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Violent crypto attacks rise as criminals hunt bigger payouts
Crypto criminals are increasingly targeting people, not just digital wallets, as violent attacks climb globally.

So-called wrench attacks — where criminals use violence to coerce victims to hand over cryptocurrency — have accelerated this year, according to a new report by blockchain security firm CertiK, which tracks cyber threats and security incidents in the digital asset industry. CertiK verified 52 physical attacks against digital asset holders globally in the first half of 2026, up 33% from a year earlier. France, with 33 attacks, accounted for nearly two-thirds of publicly reported cases.

The report is based on verified, publicly reported incidents identified through law enforcement disclosures, court documents, reputable media reports, victim testimony and, where available, on-chain evidence. Because many attacks go unreported, the figures likely understate the true scale of the threat.Criminals are attacking more often, going after bigger targets and reaping larger payouts. The sum of recorded losses and ransom demands rose to about $124 million from just $10.5 million over the same period last year, according to the report.

“The trend suggests that attackers increasingly believe that physical coercion can produce outsized returns,” CertiK researchers wrote, adding that this has changed “criminal economics.”

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This is forcing the industry to rethink what security means in crypto. For years, the biggest concern was protecting blockchains and private keys from hackers. Now old-fashioned operational security challenges have become paramount.
Today’s attacks combine online intelligence gathering with real-world violence, according to Ronghui Gu, co-founder of CertiK and a computer science professor at Columbia University.“I wouldn’t describe this as just a physical security attack anymore,” Gu said in an interview. “It’s really a combination of cyberattacks, social engineering and physical attacks.”

The biggest shift has been the rise of home invasions. CertiK verified 20 publicly reported cases in the first six months of the year, compared with just one in the first half of 2025.

One of those attacks in March involved a couple in the Paris suburb of Le Chesnay-Rocquencourt. They were beaten inside their home and forced to transfer roughly $1 million worth of Bitcoin. In another case in the UK, a victim was forced to surrender $24 million worth of crypto that was eventually converted into the privacy-focused token Monero.

Home invasions have replaced kidnappings as the fastest-growing form of crypto-related violence. Kidnappings were up to 16 in the period, compared with 12 last year.

The jump in losses also points to criminals becoming more selective. Attackers are spending more time stitching together blockchain records, leaked customer databases, social media profiles and public records to build detailed profiles of potential victims.

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“The important thing is that criminals can now link crypto holders with personal information like home addresses,” Gu said. “Once they can link those datasets together, home invasion becomes possible.”

This increasing sophistication has made crypto crime more distinct from random robberies, with many incidents now involving organized crime.

A single case may involve recruiting a local crew, using data brokers to supply personal information and then transferring stolen funds to money launderers, Gu said. French investigations have also uncovered cases involving minors who were recruited by remote organizers.

These layered operations mean even failed attacks can make economic sense for many involved, as the physical risk is passed to the ground-level crews that are considered disposable.

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France appears as the epicenter of this trend for multiple reasons. The country has a sizable crypto ecosystem, while also facing multiple major data breaches, making the location a particularly attractive target.

France also does a better job of recording incidents than other potential hotspots, according to CertiK. French authorities say the true number of attacks is substantially higher — the interior minister said attacks this year numbered 77 through June — but CertiK has limited its numbers to publicly reported and independently verifiable cases.

However, meticulous record-keeping can be a double-edged sword. The report notes that Europe has multiple jurisdictions that keep extensive records. When data breaches occur and are combined with publicly available information, individuals can be easier to identify.

One of the biggest factors skewing the data may be that many attacks still go unreported. “Under-reporting remains severe because victims may fear retaliation, reputational damage, tax exposure, or law-enforcement inaction,” CertiK said in the report.

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The country with the second-most verifiable wrench attacks this year is the US, with just four identified cases in the report. Sweden and the UK each had two.

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Earnings call transcript: SBFC Finance posts steady Q1 2026 growth, shares rise

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TSMC: I Was Wrong

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TSMC: I Was Wrong

TSMC: I Was Wrong

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SoFi Technologies Q2 Preview: Product Expansions, Weak Consumer Macros And A Tough Growth Ask

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SoFi: Silly Wall St. Games

SoFi Technologies Q2 Preview: Product Expansions, Weak Consumer Macros And A Tough Growth Ask

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Product Innovator in Luxury Real Estate

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Product Innovator in Luxury Real Estate

Denis Kitaev is the co-founder, co-owner and a former executive of Vesper, a Russian property development company working in the elite segment.

It was Kitaev who created the product-led philosophy of Vesper — a set of standards, from finished interiors to hand-selected architects, that helped shape Moscow’s market.

Name

Denis Kitaev · Denis Vladimirovich Kitaev · Kitaev Denis · Kitaev Denis Vladimirovich · Денис Китаев · Денис Владимирович Китаев · Китаев Денис · Китаев Денис Владимирович

How Denis Kitaev’s path to Vesper shaped its philosophy

Before launching Vesper, Denis Kitaev studied finance and briefly worked in banking. Early in his career, though, Kitaev moved into property development.

The shift started in the early 2000s, at an oil and gas company where he was put in charge of construction. When he left, he stayed in the field. Two more senior roles at real estate firms followed, and by 2005 Kitaev had enough experience to start his own enterprise together with partners, including Boris Azarenko, whom he’d known since his finance academy days. That company was Evocom. Kitaev Denis co-founded it and served as general director.

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It was his first time running a business end-to-end. The company built residential and mixed-use property. The profits from these projects later became the capital that launched Vesper. Just as importantly, the experience gave Kitaev and Azarenko a read on the market and convinced them to focus on the elite real estate specifically. They founded Vesper with the goal to raise the quality of supply in a segment that was, at the time, underdeveloped and unable to meet demand.

Denis Vladimirovich Kitaev took the role of operational director. Over the next decade, he was responsible for shaping what became Vesper’s defining trait: a product-led philosophy. Kitaev had spent over a decade working on both sides of development — finance and construction. His finance training left him with an understanding of what creates value. And his earliest roles in construction were focused on materials, cost efficiency, quality and negotiating with contractors, so he understood how to manage a construction project down to the detail. That combination of skills is the reason why Kitaev Denis was able to define Vesper’s product so precisely.

The principles he established touched every part of a Vesper development. As detailed in the biography of Denis Kitaev in Brainz Magazine, apartments in all houses came fully finished, ready to move into — a break from the market norm of selling bare shells. Layouts were carefully organised with everyday life scenarios in mind. Each project carried the name of a recognised architect. Locations, materials and design details were chosen for exclusivity. Contemporary art became a frequent design feature.

Underlying all of it was Denis Kitaev’s understanding of what affluent buyers valued: a complex sense of luxury that few projects were offering before. The approach paid off commercially — up to 90 per cent of apartments in Vesper’s portfolio have historically sold before construction even finishes.

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Denis Kitaev’s flagship product: the boutique residence

For most of its history, the core product of Denis Kitaev’s company was the boutique house. It is a small, low-density building, typically holding somewhere between a dozen and several dozen residences. The scale is a deliberate part of the product. Fewer residences mean more privacy and tighter control over who lives in the building. That was exactly what most buyers in this segment were looking for at the time.

Not every boutique house came from the same starting point. Some of Denis Vladimirovich Kitaev’s projects are restored old buildings. Others are built from scratch, but designed to sit convincingly in a historic neighbourhood. Regardless of their origins, all projects completed by Denis Kitaev during Vesper’s first decade belong to the company’s boutique portfolio.

The list of Denis Kitaev’s boutique developments

Name Exterior Interior
Gelrikh’s House The restored facade preserves the elegance of Russian Art Nouveau. Bay windows and sculptural ornamentation give the building a historic identity The interiors combine restored architectural character with contemporary comfort. A grand entrance space, bespoke finishes, exclusive furniture, and natural materials create an atmosphere of luxury
Bulgakov The building is inspired by Parisian architecture and features a natural stone facade, French balconies, elegant bay windows, and restrained proportions that blend naturally into the neighbouring Patriarch’s Ponds area The interiors also take inspiration from Parisian residential elegance, with natural stone, antique parquet flooring, decorative plasterwork, and marble windowsills
St. Nickolas The original facade of the historic commercial building was restored under the guidance of Denis Kitaev. Its architectural character — an eclectic composition with Baroque and Neoclassical elements — was preserved. Archival drawings made it possible to reconstruct the initial window pattern, so today the windows look just as they did 100 years ago Historic brick vaults, soaring ceilings, restored staircases, columns, and ornamental details coexist with modern engineering systems hidden from view. The interiors of the entrance lobbies are designed in the eclectic style of the 19th century
Chekhov The minimalist architecture is distinguished by bronze-clad facades. The building merges visually with the neighbouring Hermitage Garden In the interiors, materials such as wood, stone, and bronze are used.  Natural light is abundant, and every detail is designed to create a calm living environment
Nabokov The exterior is minimalist, defined by geometric precision. The stone facade is assembled from thousands of individually placed elements. Crystal-clear glazing enhances light and transparency The materials used in finishing include premium natural stone and woods. A monumental marble staircase is the centerpiece, and  the lobby is further distinguished by an installation of handcrafted glass butterflies, created by the renowned Bohemian glassmaker Lasvit
Sovremennik Kitaev’s team reimagined the historic apartment building through a dialogue between neoclassical architecture and a contemporary-style addition — the 5th floor The former courtyard was transformed into a covered lobby filled with natural light. Finished residences combine clean modern design with practical layouts and premium materials
Bunin The elegance of a historic mansion is visible in the white stone surfaces, arched windows, French balconies, and decorative classical detailing of the restored facade The interiors are characterised by handcrafted decorative elements. For instance, each of the 29 residences is identified by a hand-assembled marble floor panel; and the apartment doors are fitted with custom handles faceted like diamonds, produced at a workshop near Florence
Brodsky Located on the Moscow River embankment, the building is defined by rhythmic white arches that create a contemporary silhouette and offer a panoramic view of the city. A private landscaped park extends the architecture into the surrounding environment Spacious interiors with generous ceiling heights and panoramic glazing maximize natural light. The lobby designs echo the architectural language of the facade: they feature natural grey-toned marble and hand-assembled floor mosaics crafted from three different types of the same material
Cloud Nine Four historic buildings were restored and unified into one boutique complex. Mosaic courtyards, restored facades, and contrasting historical styles create a layered composition Apartments are available in two interior concepts — each house has its own character inside and out. Regardless of the concept, interiors feature premium natural materials and high ceilings

The portfolio above isn’t held together by a single architectural style, or a specific location — the buildings are spread across the historical centre of Moscow. The standards Denis Kitaev put in place, though, are consistent: fully completed interiors, natural materials, handcrafted detail, and top creative specialists to bring it all to life.

But the boutique house has a natural ceiling. It’s built to serve someone who wants a self-contained, private home. By the mid-2010s, Denis Kitaev was also reading a parallel kind of demand: buyers who wanted work, food and culture within reach of home. The two aren’t in conflict — some buyers want total privacy and exclusivity, others want an integrated living environment within the city. For the first group, Vesper continues to build boutique residences. Two are currently under construction: Levenson, which combines redevelopment and new build, and Vesper Pogodinskaya, a ground-up project. And Denis Kitaev’s next product line — the mixed-use quarters — was built for the second group.

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Scaling up: same product approach at neighbourhood level

The first mixed-use quarter Denis Vladimirovich Kitaev started building was Lucky. It was launched in 2017 and completed six years later on a former industrial site in Moscow’s Presnya district. When Denis Kitaev’s company bought the land, it was home to roughly 500 tenants running a mix of shops and restaurants, without a finished plan for the site.

Denis Kitaev then ran an architectural competition. The winning concept, from Yuri Grigoryan’s studio Meganom, was built around preserving as much of the original brick factory buildings as possible.

This aim shaped the whole construction process. Denis Kitaev personally pushed to keep two of the factory’s original chimneys standing: engineers initially had concerns about their structural condition, but the decision eventually proved successful. The quarter ended up being split into two parts. One has eight new residential towers sold with finished interiors, fitted kitchens and bathrooms. The other is where the old factory buildings now house the amenities — restaurants, farm shops, a fitness club, a bilingual kindergarten, and a tech hub called Cyberdom.

Overall, the development includes:

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  • more than 11 acres of site
  • more than 600 apartments, including penthouses
  • four children’s playgrounds
  • five parcs
  • more than 300 thousand square feet of office space

The social and cultural cluster of the residential complex stays open to all of the city’s inhabitants. Kitaev Denis has said the openness doesn’t concern him, given Moscow’s security standards, though some residential courtyards are fenced off with transparent barriers for residents who want more privacy.

Commercially, Lucky has been one of Vesper’s strongest performers. The price per square metre has risen roughly twofold since the launch. It was proof that Denis Kitaev’s bet on mixed-use quarters was right, and it became the reason for Vesper to keep building them.

Vesper’s second project of this kind, Vesper Kutuzovsky, is currently under construction on a  9-acre site on a major avenue. The complex, comprising ten houses ranging from 7 to 18 storeys, is being designed by New York-based ODA Architecture. The terracotta-and-graphite and gold-sand facades of the buildings complement the avenue’s existing character.

The project leans even harder into greenery and internal infrastructure than Lucky did. Parking is pushed entirely underground, making the whole internal courtyard pedestrianised. There is a garden covering close to 5 acres, landscaped to stay green year-round.

Ground-floor infrastructure is designed to keep residents from needing to leave the site for daily errands. Restaurants, shops and showrooms are joined by a private residents’ lounge, a fitness club with individual training and massage rooms, and a nursery for the youngest residents.

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A third project, on Shabolovka Street, is currently in planning. It is a roughly 12-acre redevelopment of a former factory site. Inside Vesper, the project is dubbed “Lucky 2.0”. It draws on the same mixed-use model, including infrastructure built around delivery services and digital logistics.

Denis Kitaev’s position today

In 2022, Kitaev Denis Vladimirovich stepped back from day-to-day operations at Vesper. He remains involved in the company in a shareholder capacity.

Outside the business, Denis Kitaev is a collector of contemporary art. He supports institutions such as the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art and the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, both located in Moscow. In addition to that, Kitaev takes part in charity auctions in aid of children’s medical causes.

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