Freedom24

Timur Turlov, founder and CEO of Freedom Holding Corp., has been elected President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) at its General Assembly. Running on a joint ticket with five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand, he takes office for a four-year term through 2030. “My goal is for FIDE to become more professional and more modern, more digital, raising its standing and influence, and finding its place in today's world. I want to bring my own experience in digitalization to that work, helping the organization build a powerful platform and earn recognition as the leader and regulator of this historic and living game,” said Turlov. His key commitments include: ✔️ More than 8.5 million US dollars for FIDE's development, aiming to double resources for national federations ✔️ A unified platform with a single player profile for ratings, online play and education tools ✔️ Regular publication of FIDE's financial statements and an independent external audit ✔️ Dedicated specialists to help national federations secure sponsors, build government partnerships and gain media exposure Cyprus has grown into one of Europe's chess hubs over the past three years. Freedom24 became the main partner of the Cyprus Chess Federation in 2023. Since then, the island has hosted 26 tournaments, including the FIDE Women's World Grand Prix in Nicosia and the Candidates Tournament, and around 2,000 people now actively play chess, most of them children 🇨🇾 🔗 Read more in Cyprus Mail

Freedom24 has opened access to the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), the largest securities exchange in Central and Eastern Europe. Clients can now trade eligible Polish-listed securities alongside instruments available on other supported US, European and Asian markets through their Freedom24 account. The WSE lists over 400 companies and was the first market in the region to be classified as developed by FTSE Russell. Its benchmark index, the WIG20, tracks the 20 largest and most liquid companies, and serves as the main reference point for the Polish market. The Warsaw Stock Exchange provides access to companies operating across sectors including banking, energy, mining, retail, gaming and manufacturing. Among them are companies such as fast-growing grocery retailer Dino Polska, energy company ORLEN, game developer CD Projekt, and industrial manufacturer Grupa Kęty. 🏢  Orders on the Warsaw Stock Exchange are placed and settled in Polish zloty (PLN). Funds can be converted between EUR or USD and PLN directly on the platform. Polish clients can also top up in zloty via BLIK with 0% commission. 🔗 Read more on our website * Investing always involves the risk of losing your capital. Past performance or predictions do not guarantee future results. Do your own research before making any investment. It is important to consult a financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

Rockstar Games is set to release Grand Theft Auto VI on 19 November, one of the most anticipated launches in gaming history. Freedom24 analysts looked at the key indicators Romanian investors should watch and the factors that could shape the long-term performance of Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar Games’ parent company. 🎮 The main point of the analysis is that a successful launch does not automatically mean a higher share price. Expectations for Take-Two are already high: recent price targets include $285 from Goldman Sachs and $310 from JPMorgan. If the market has already priced in a record-breaking release, GTA VI will need to beat those expectations, not just meet them, to lift the stock further. "GTA VI will undoubtedly be one of the most significant releases in gaming history. But for investors, including those in Romania, commercial success is only the first step. Until the November launch, market sentiment will largely be driven by expectations. After release, the focus will shift to sales, the financial outlook and long-term monetization. For Take-Two, the real challenge will be turning GTA VI's initial success into a sustainable source of recurring revenue," says Radu-Iulian Pădurean, Freedom24 📊 🔗 Read the full analysis in Business Review

Following an improved assessment of risk in the banking sector of Kazakhstan, Freedom Holding Corp.’s largest operating market, S&P Global Ratings has revised the outlook on the long-term issuer credit ratings of the group and its four core subsidiaries from stable to positive. The long- and short-term ratings on the operating subsidiaries were affirmed at BB-/B, while the rating on Freedom Holding Corp. was affirmed at B-. S&P also raised the Kazakhstan national-scale ratings on Freedom Finance JSC and Freedom Bank Kazakhstan JSC to kzA from kzA-. The subsidiaries covered by the action are Freedom Finance JSC, Freedom Finance Global PLC, Freedom Bank Kazakhstan JSC, and Freedom Finance Europe Ltd., which operates under the Freedom24 brand. S&P revised its industry risk score for Kazakhstan from 7 to 6, citing continued improvement in banking regulation and supervision, the capital accumulated in the system and sovereign strength, which the agency expects to support financial stability through business and economic cycles. 🌐 Assessing the group's stand-alone credit profile, S&P describes Freedom Finance as "the largest retail brokerage franchise in Kazakhstan, with an expanding presence in Europe", complemented by banking and insurance operations. "The positive outlook is a meaningful vote of confidence in the direction of Freedom24 and the wider group," said Evgenii Tiapkin, CEO of Freedom24. "It recognises the discipline we have built across capital management, compliance and risk governance. For us, the message is clear: sustainable growth must be earned through strong fundamentals. As Freedom24 expands across Europe, we will continue to scale the business without compromising the standards that underpin client trust." 🔗 Read more on our website

Speaking to Revista Risco, the finance section of the Portuguese business platform Executive Digest, João Lampreia, market specialist at Freedom24, explains that the current defence cycle cannot be read as a reaction to geopolitical conflict but as a prolonged shift in state budget priorities. "When something grows for 11 consecutive years and its share of GDP reaches multi-year highs, we are no longer facing a cycle." In June 2025 NATO members committed to spending 5% of GDP on defence by 2035. João notes that these commitments are backed by parliamentary votes and cannot be reversed in a single budget year, which is why manufacturers can now see five to ten years of orders ahead. Markets have not priced the sector evenly, and Lampreia's structure for defence exposure follows that split. It runs in three tiers: 50-60% core in diversified manufacturers with solid backlogs and moderate multiples, 25-30% in European second-tier names that have won contracts but have not been revalued, and 15-20% in supply chain technology, where the valuation premium is lowest and resilience to partial de-escalation is highest. As João puts it, the spending comes at a cost, and that cost falls outside the defence sector. Governments either borrow, which pushes up interest rates and sovereign spreads, or they cut elsewhere in the budget, and SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) is already warning that some are simply widening what counts as defence to reach the target. He goes further in the full interview, covering whether the sector meets the definition of a bubble, the four criteria he uses to select companies, where the geographic asymmetries sit between Europe, the US and Asia-Pacific, and why the adjacent industrial supply chains may benefit more durably than defence itself. 🛡 Read more in Executive Digest

Greek households are among Europe's most cautious savers, holding around 60% of their financial assets in deposits and cash. Over 2021-2025, a new Freedom24 study finds that when cumulative inflation reached 17%, holding cash carried a cost of its own. Dimitrios Haritos, Head of Investment Advisory Department at Freedom24, illustrated the gap with the example of €10,000 held over the five years: 🔻 In a savings account: around €10,200 nominally, worth about €8,300 in real purchasing power. 🔺 In the FTSE/ATHEX Large Cap: around €27,450, a real return of roughly 155% after inflation. While past returns do not guarantee future performance, the point stands for the period measured: deposits alone did not keep pace with inflation. 📊 "There is no investment without risk. But there is also the risk of not investing," Haritos told NewsOnline.gr. Deposits and property are not wrong choices in his view. He shares the importance of balance and diversification, supported by a supervised financial institution, certified advisers and a long-term horizon. According to Dimitrios Haritos, the majority of Freedom24 client activity goes to the US market, drawn by artificial intelligence, semiconductors and cybersecurity. The Greek stock exchange, concentrated in banks, energy and infrastructure, covers little of that. ETFs are gaining ground alongside it, giving access to entire indices such as the S&P 500 or the Nasdaq-100 with diversification, liquidity and low management costs. 🇺🇸 Read the full article in NewsOnline.gr

Freedom24, the European investment platform and financial technology firm, a division of Freedom Holding Corp., views Switzerland as a market of long-term strategic interest and is exploring opportunities to establish a presence in Geneva. 🇨🇭 The assessment will focus on areas where Switzerland’s established expertise aligns with Freedom24’s existing capabilities, including wealth management, digital financial infrastructure, responsible artificial intelligence and data governance. Among the opportunities under consideration are models combining the relationship-driven approach associated with Swiss wealth management with proprietary technology developed across the Freedom Group. Freedom24’s existing European infrastructure includes Tradernet, its proprietary investment platform, and Neo Compliance, an AI-powered framework supporting compliance and risk-management processes. This experience will inform the company’s assessment of the Swiss market and the role a future Geneva presence could play in its European development. 📊 Freedom24 also intends to deepen its engagement with Switzerland’s financial, technology and research communities as it evaluates the market and develops its longer-term plans. “Switzerland has long set the benchmark for wealth management, institutional discipline and client trust,” said Evgenii Tiapkin, CEO of Freedom24. “Geneva is a natural place for us to explore how these strengths can be combined with our technology and European operating experience. We are approaching the market with a long-term perspective and will shape our plans carefully, in dialogue with local stakeholders and in accordance with the Swiss regulatory framework.” Any future activities in Switzerland would be structured in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements and subject to any necessary authorisations. Further details will be announced as Freedom24’s assessment of the market progresses. Read more on our website *Your capital is at risk. Past performance is not indicative of future results and there is no guarantee that any investment strategy will achieve its objectives. It is important to conduct thorough research and consider seeking advice from a qualified financial professional before making any investment decision.

The 2026 Austrian National Chess Championships have concluded with GM Dominik Horvath defending his national title, finishing ahead of Laurenz Borrmann on tiebreaks, and with IM Valentin Baidetskyi placing third. Dominik Mayr, Head of Freedom Finance Germany, a tied agent of Freedom Finance Europe Ltd., and Austrian Chess Federation President Michael Stöttinger conducted the awards ceremony. ♟️ Borrmann led for most of the event and secured a GM norm in the final round. The Oberbank Open was won by Germany's Ruben Gideon Köllner. Jakob Postlmayer, Florentin Stickler and David Schernthaner finished second to fourth on identical scores and qualified as challengers for the 2027 Austrian National Championship. Olga Badelka finished sixth overall in the Open and claimed the Women's National Championship title. Veronika Exler took silver with six points and Alina Donets took bronze with five points. Donets passed the 2100 Elo mark during the championship and, at 12 years old, became Austria's youngest Woman FIDE Master. 🏆 Freedom24 supported the championships alongside Oberbank, the Austrian Chess Promotion Association and the Brucknerhaus Linz. The event was organised by the Austrian Chess Federation under President Stöttinger and the Upper Austrian Chess Federation under President Günter Mitterhuemer. Read more on FIDE website

August to October has historically been the weakest three-month stretch for the S&P 500, with average returns close to zero and deeper temporary declines, according to Bank of America data cited by Freedom24. "The relevant question for an investor during this period is not whether there will be a correction, but how well the portfolio is prepared to cope with different scenarios," says Radu-Iulian Pădurean, Freedom24. "Discipline and a balanced portfolio structure may matter more than trying to anticipate the perfect moment to exit or return to the market." Freedom24 analysts point to five areas investors typically review in periods like this: ▪️ Portfolio balance. After a strong run, individual positions can grow into a larger share than originally intended, which raises concentration risk. ▪️ Liquidity. A cash reserve allows for gradual adjustments, yet at the same time, too much exposure to cash can mean missing out on a rapid market recovery. ▪️ Core and tactical split. Some investors separate a long-term allocation from a smaller flexible portion used for short-term moves. ▪️ Timing of entries. Spreading purchases over time reduces reliance on any single entry point. ▪️ Diversification. Depending on risk profile, quality bonds or gold through ETFs are among the instruments that can soften fluctuations. A weak seasonal pattern says something about how wide the swings may be, but very little about where the market ends the quarter. That will come down to the tone the Fed and the ECB take in September, bond yields, oil prices and whether AI spending starts showing up in margins and cash flow. Portfolio structure is the part an investor can settle in advance, and it is easier to adjust now than during a selloff 🧭 Read more in Ziarul BURSA

Freedom Holding Corp. (Nasdaq: FRHC), the parent company of Freedom24, has reported its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2027, covering the three months ended June 30, 2026. 📈 Total net revenue reached $732.5 million, up 40% year on year from $524.0 million in the same period last year. Net income for the quarter stood at $31.7 million, or $0.52 per diluted share. Total assets grew to $14.0 billion, and the total number of customers across banking, brokerage, insurance and other segments reached 8,743,000. "Our results this quarter reflect the continued strength and momentum of our business across the Freedom ecosystem. We saw meaningful growth in revenue and in our customer base, underscoring the durability of our diversified model as we continue to expand into new markets and new lines of business," said Timur Turlov, Founder and CEO of Freedom Holding Corp. 🔗More about news

Francesco Bergamini, Representative of Freedom24 in Italy (tied agent of Freedom Finance Europe Ltd. in Italy), has picked out four European companies that rarely make the headlines. According to Francesco, the reason so many names like these go unnoticed has less to do with their results than with market structure: capital keeps flowing into funds and ETFs, which mechanically lifts the weighting of the largest issuers, so valuations at the top of the index climb while smaller companies stay at a discount even as their fundamentals improve. All four have reported strong results this year and confirmed or raised their guidance. The first two are tied to the hardware behind the biggest technology shifts. Mersen is a French company making components for power distribution and power electronics, used in data centres, rail infrastructure and aerospace, and it now expects data centres alone to bring in nearly double last year's revenue. Germany's Elmos Semiconductor supplies the analog and mixed-signal chips behind driver assistance systems, intelligent lighting and sensor platforms, with first-quarter revenue up around a fifth year on year as cars keep getting more electronic 📈 The other two are positioned on structural changes in how goods are made and sold. Finland's Scanfil is a contract manufacturer of electronics for the industrial, energy, medical and aerospace sectors, and stands to benefit as European manufacturers move capacity closer to end markets. France’s Vusion is still seen by many as an electronic shelf label maker, though the business now combines IoT sensors, software, analytics and computer vision into what amounts to a digital operating system for physical stores. Both delivered strong first-half results, with Scanfil lifting revenue by almost a quarter and Vusion by a third, driven by its fast-growing software segment. "All four companies discussed above operate in different sectors of the economy, but they have one thing in common: each stands to benefit from long-term structural changes. It is precisely these kinds of businesses that often become a source of alpha for investors willing to look beyond the most popular names in the European market," Francesco concludes. 🔍 🔗Read the full analysis in Oninvest

From 11 to 16 August, San José, Costa Rica, will host the American Continental Stage of the FIDE-ISCF World Schools Team Championship 2026, with Freedom Holding Corp., the parent company of Freedom24, joining as General Partner. For the first time, Costa Rica and Central America will host this stage of the championship. ♟️ A central event of the week will be Smart Moves Americas: Governments That Think Ahead, taking place on 12 August. Government representatives, education authorities and international partners will discuss practical approaches to expanding Chess in Education through national policy, teacher development, curriculum integration and regional cooperation. Held within the Year of Chess in Education 2026, the championship will also feature masterclasses, classroom sessions and interactive activities for students, teachers, parents and coaches. 🎓 Read more on our website

Timur Turlov, CEO of Freedom Holding Corp. and President of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation, has announced that he will run for President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE). The leadership elections will take place on 26 and 27 September 2026 in Samarkand, during the organisation's General Assembly and alongside the 46th World Chess Olympiad. The announcement follows Turlov's earlier nomination for the post of FIDE Deputy President. "Today, a federation with a century of history stands at a crossroads. The progress we've made cannot be stopped or erased. I believe it must be intensified, given fresh energy, and carried forward. That is why I have decided to put forward my candidacy for President of the International Chess Federation," he stated. Turlov has led the Kazakhstan Chess Federation since 2023, overseeing a wide-ranging modernisation of the country's chess sector and investing more than 75 million US dollars in the game's development. Under his leadership, Kazakhstan has hosted the Men’s World Chess Championship match and the World Rapid and Blitz Team Championship, and Almaty will soon host the World University Chess Championship. He has also served as President of the International School Chess Federation since 2024.♟ Turlov confirmed that Viswanathan Anand, FIDE Deputy President since 2022, will stand as the candidate for Deputy President on his ticket. "Vishy needs no introduction in the chess world. He is one of the greatest chess players in history and a man who is highly respected on every continent. His participation in our team is a guarantee of continuity and the preservation of the best work that has already been done," Turlov said. Together they will run on a programme built around digitalisation and AI, chess in schools and the financial sustainability of national federations. 🔗 Read more on our website

Evgenii Tiapkin, CEO of Freedom24, gave an interview to Profit.ro, a major voice in Romanian business journalism, about the company's growth plans in the country and the next stage of its European strategy. Since launching in Romania in 2024, Freedom24 has seen strong momentum, with the client base growing to over 6,000 investors by the middle of 2026. The company's ambitions for the market go much further, as Evgenii Tiapkin explained: "In the medium term, we estimate that, within a three to five year horizon, Freedom24 could reach a number between 50,000 and 70,000 active customers in Romania. It is an ambitious objective, but supported both by the evolution observed so far and by the long-term potential of the local market."📈 To support this growth, Freedom24 is preparing to open an office in Bucharest. According to Evgenii, investors value the comfort of a modern investment platform combined with the security of a local team that understands their market, speaks their language and can provide support when important financial decisions need to be made. With the right conditions in place, he believes Romania has the chance to become one of the reference markets for retail investments in Central and Eastern Europe. The interview also touched on the company's wider transformation. Freedom24 is transitioning from a digital broker to a broader financial platform built on its own technology, a solid regulatory framework and local presence, and intends to obtain a banking licence in Europe. "Brokerage remains the core of our operations, but we see a clear trend towards increasingly integrated financial services. In everyday life, people do not rigidly separate banking, investing, payments and saving. They expect all of these to work together, simply and seamlessly," he noted. 🚀 Read the full interview on Profit.ro

Freedom24 has launched the Recurring Investment Plan, a feature that automatically funds a client's investment account from their card and buys a selected instrument on a set schedule, with 0% commission on both the card funding and the purchase. It is built on a simple principle: financial independence comes from consistency and regular contributions.📈 Why it works: 1. Full automation: set the parameters once, and the card funding and purchase will be made on schedule 2. 0% commission on card funding and purchases, so the full deposited amount goes into the investment 3. Cost averaging: regular purchases at different points in the market cycle reduce the impact of any single entry price Key details: - Funding available in EUR or USD, on a weekly or monthly schedule - No minimum investment amount, as long as it covers at least one lot of the chosen instrument - If the card has insufficient funds, the order may not go through, or it may be completed the following day once the card is topped up Getting started takes a couple of steps: - In the web platform: go to Member area - Cash - Recurrent and select Recurring investments - In the Freedom24 app: open Menu - Requests and choose Recurrent in the Popular orders selection, or go to Requests - Cash - Recurrent - Choose the instrument, set the parameters and confirm. From then on, the plan runs automatically on schedule 🔗Read more on our website *0% commission offer available only for the Freedom24 Recurring Auto Top-Ups function. Other fees may apply. Investments involve risk, and returns are not guaranteed.

As Spain prepares to face France for a place in the World Cup final, Diario SPORT, one of Spain's largest sports publications, has featured an analytical article by Pedro Santa Cruz, Director of Freedom24 Iberia (tied agent of Freedom Finance Europe Ltd. in Spain), on what lifting the trophy would actually mean for the Spanish economy. ⚽️ According to Pedro, the effect is real, but temporary and modest. Transactions in bars and restaurants using the Square payment platform rose 36% during the group stage, with peaks of 66% in Seville, and FIFA's prize money totals $871 million, including $50 million for the champion. Set against Spain's GDP of €1.69 trillion, however, that prize is equivalent to about a quarter of an hour of the country's economic activity. As Pedro puts it, "Bastiat remains the best sports analyst," because "a good part of World Cup spending isn't new consumption, it's displaced consumption." The most robust evidence comes from economist Marco Mello, whose 2024 study in the Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics found that winning a World Cup raises year-on-year GDP growth by at least 0.48 percentage points in the following two quarters, mainly through exports, which would amount to around €4 billion for Spain. The deeper point stands: GDP does not grow because of a title, it grows because of productivity, investment, institutional quality, and monetary stability. And with Spain set to host the tournament in 2030, Pedro adds a warning worth keeping: "when a multiplier seems too good to be true, it usually is." 📊 Pedro brings up the lesson of 2010 when Spain won in South Africa with unemployment nearing 20%, and he is certain about what that triumph could and could not do: "The Cup was an immense joy and an extraordinary asset for the country's brand, but it wasn't, nor could it be, economic policy." Markets follow the same logic: whatever happens on the pitch, portfolios will still be driven by interest rates, global liquidity and corporate profits. "If Spain lifts the Cup on July 19th, celebrate without any financial guilt," Pedro concludes. "A country doesn't get richer by winning World Cups; it gets poorer when it confuses euphoria with strategy." Read the full column in SPORT

Freedom Holding Corp., the parent company of Freedom24, took part in The Economist's 30th Annual Government Roundtable, held in Athens from 8 to 10 July 2026. Representing the group, Paul Meeks, Head of Technology Research at Freedom Capital Markets, the US institutional research arm of Freedom Holding Corp., joined the discussion on the opportunities emerging for the European economy in the era of Artificial Intelligence. 🇬🇷 According to Paul Meeks, the global market stands at a critical turning point. While American tech giants are spending billions to build large language models, the industry is now entering a new phase: AI will no longer simply learn information but will apply that knowledge in practice and execute complex tasks on our behalf. "This is a great opportunity for Europe," Paul Meeks stated. In his view, the US currently leads in infrastructure investment, yet Europe holds a strategic advantage in the application layer, the practical software and tools people actually use. Specialising in these solutions could allow the region to lead in innovation without taking on the massive financial risks currently faced by American tech giants. Speaking to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency, Paul Meeks also noted that the most significant technological regulations are likely to come from the European Union, as the current political climate in the US remains too fragmented to drive decisive change. 🇪🇺 Freedom Holding Corp.'s participation in one of Europe's leading policy forums reflects the group's growing engagement in the dialogue around technology, capital markets and the future of financial services. Watch more of Paul Meeks' remarks

Valentin Shatalov, Head of Corporate Affairs at Freedom24, spoke with Adonis Adoni, News Editor at Finance Magnates, about one of the biggest transformations shaping financial services today: the shift from standalone products toward integrated platforms. The conversation explored how changing customer expectations, digital transformation and the growing importance of trust are redefining the future of finance. 💬  Market access, once the defining advantage of any brokerage, is becoming widely available. The real challenge, Valentin explained, is building a broader financial ecosystem that delivers a better customer experience. Clients no longer compare financial providers only with each other; they compare every digital experience against the seamless services they use in everyday life, and they no longer think in terms of categories or processes. "Customers stop thinking about financial services in those traditional boundaries of the industry." Instead, they increasingly perceive financial services in terms of outcomes. They want simple, connected experiences that allow them to save, invest, borrow and manage their financial lives through one platform. At the same time, digital capability on its own is not enough. "Technology in itself does not produce trust." Trust, Valentin argued, is built through regulation, governance, operational resilience and consistent customer support. That is why Freedom24 keeps investing in local teams and on-the-ground expertise across Europe alongside its proprietary technology, a combination the company describes as a neo-traditional model that balances innovation with personal service. Valentin pointed to integrated platforms as the industry's strongest long-term trend, drawing on Freedom Holding Corp.'s Super App experience in Kazakhstan, where banking, investing, insurance, telecommunications and e-commerce come together in a single ecosystem. "The real competition for the future of the industry will be among platforms and not just standalone categories." Freedom24 is already moving in this direction by developing its proprietary technology and pursuing a European banking licence to bring the integrated platform vision to Europe.  🇪🇺 🔗 Watch the full interview in Finance Magnates

Forbes Bulgaria has published an analytical article on the structural shift under way in the European automotive industry, featuring market commentary from Freedom24. The piece examines a sector under pressure from several directions at once. Volkswagen is weighing a restructuring that could affect up to 100,000 jobs, first-quarter profits at Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and BMW fell sharply, and Chinese manufacturers are expanding across Europe at record pace, with BYD registrations in the EU up 152.9% in the first four months of 2026. Oleksandr Buiukli, Director of Freedom24 Bulgaria (Tied Agent of Freedom Finance Europe Ltd.), explained what this means for investors: "The European automotive industry is undergoing one of the most significant structural transformations in its modern history. Investors are increasingly focusing on which companies can successfully adapt to electric mobility, manage rising costs and compete effectively with the new generation of global competitors. The investment story is gradually shifting from traditional market leadership to future competitiveness." The analysis traces the pressure to three converging forces. For years, European carmakers earned a large share of their profits in China. The share of foreign brands in the Chinese market has fallen from 57% in 2020 to 32% in 2025, as local manufacturers pull ahead with their own battery supply chains, faster development cycles and roughly 30% lower production costs. At the same time, electrification requires European carmakers to finance new platforms, software and factory upgrades while EV sales in the region grow more slowly than expected. Tariffs on exports and weakening demand at home complete the picture. The analysis also highlights what is at stake for Bulgaria itself. The country's automotive supply sector generates over 10 billion euros in turnover and contributes around 11% of GDP, which makes the industry's transformation a matter of national economic significance as well as a major investment theme. 🚗 Read the full article on Forbes Bulgaria

From 6 to 11 July, Stellenbosch University in Cape Town, South Africa will host the African Continental Stage of the FIDE ISCF World Schools Team Championship 2026, with Freedom Holding Corp., the parent company of Freedom24, supporting the event as general partner. Nearly 30 school teams from across the continent will compete over the week, with the best teams qualifying directly for the WSTC 2026 Grand Final in December. It is the first African stage in the championship's history and the second continental qualifier of the new cycle, following the Asian stage held in Almaty this spring.♟ A championship now spanning four continents began with a conversation in Kazakhstan. In 2023, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich and Timur Turlov, CEO of Freedom Holding Corp. and President of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation, discussed how to bring more schoolchildren into competitive chess. Later that year, FIDE and the Kazakhstan Chess Federation launched the first edition in Aktau, bringing together more than 400 students from 53 countries. Freedom Holding Corp. supports the championship as general partner and allocates more than $15 million annually to chess development and promotion, including the WSTC, the World Rapid and Blitz Championships and other FIDE events. Earlier in 2026, the group also acquired ChessBase, one of the world's largest platforms for chess software and analytics, further extending its involvement in the game. Held within the framework of the Year of Chess in Education 2026, the tournament runs alongside a full programme of masterclasses, workshops and cultural activities, from a lecture on South Africa's Olympiad history to a simultaneous exhibition where one board is played collectively by the audience. 🎓 Read more on our website