Mikhailov & Partners Private Services Group is an offi cial partner of Russian banks and fi nancial companies serving wealthy clients, including Sberbank Private Banking, “Sberbank First”, “VTB” Group, UniCredit, Promsvyazbank and Alfa-Capital. How did COVID-19 reformat the company’s microenvironment, how did its specialists respond to the challenges of the macroenvironment, and mix new economic and legal risks? About this – in the interview.

The development of leasing is constrained by the imperfection of the legislative framework. Operating leasing, based on direct interaction of manufacturers with special leasing companies, actually turned out to be outside the legal field. To rectify the situation means to enable domestic industrial manufacturers to bring their products to the end user in conditions of limited solvency of demand.

In the article, based on the analysis of legal literature and legislation on leasing exclusively in the Russian Federation (since December 25, 1991), several judgments are made: the subjectivity of the Russian Federation in international law is predetermined by the adoption оf the law of the RSFSR «On changing the name of the state of the Russian Soviet Federative socialist Republic» of December 25, 1991; public relations on leasing to the Russian Federation are borrowed from foreign legal States; the first normative legal act on leasing must be considered a subordinate normative legal act — Decree of the President of the Russian Federation «On the development of financial leasing in investment activities» № 1929 dated September 17, 1994; first leasing was regulated by the Temporary regulation on leasing approved by decision of the Government of the Russian Federation «About leasing development in investment activity» № 633 dated June 29, 1995; the first Federal law on leasing is the Civil code (part two dated December 22, 1995) (chapter 34 «Lease», section 6 «Financial lease (leasing)», arts. 665–670), the first Federal law specifically designed to regulate leasing is the Federal law of the Russian Federation «About financial rent (leasing)» dated September 11, 1998; contradictions between the Civil code (part two of December 22, 1995) and the Federal law of the Russian Federation «On financial lease (leasing)» of September 11, 1998 are resolved by the conflict rule in favor of the Federal law of the Russian Federation of September 11, 1998, as a normative legal act specifically designed to regulate leasing.

The author considers leasing activity as one of the types of investment activity. Financial leasing has its own specific rules, which are not typical for a regular lease. Leasing is considered as a secured financing model.

In this article, the authors analyze the current state of the leasing services market and the dynamics of leasing development in the BRICS countries.

Currently, when designing a financial lease, the importance of a competent investment assessment is extremely high. Using the indicators of net present income, payback period and internal rate of return, you can analyze future cash flows and make an economically sound decision about the choice of leasing or Bank credit, as well as the rationality of the project as a whole.

The authors consider the specifics of implementing projects in the field of urban transport using the mechanism of public-private partnership / concession. The article presents the experience of some Russian regions that implement PPP mechanisms in the field of public transport (urban electric bus projects) in the process of implementing long-term projects aimed at developing an innovative economy.

Crowdfunding — "people's Finance" - raises many questions both among specialists and among ordinary citizens interested in investing. The article deals with existing platforms and projects, as well as features of legislative regulation. The goal is to study the possibilities of using crowdfunding as a source of funding based on the analysis of completed projects. The pros and cons of such fundraising are considered. The problems of legislative regulation are analyzed. The research is based on General and special methods of scientific knowledge: empirical research (comparison, collection and study of data), comparative research, synthesis of theoretical and practical material. When processing and systematizing information, the methods of grouping, classification, and a systematic approach were used. In the course of the research, we analyzed the EU and Russian legal acts, scientific literature, and statistical data. As a result, it was revealed that, despite the active implementation, the desire to use crowdfunding, it is still a "curiosity". The difficulties of participating in projects and currency restrictions still affect the pace of development of this attractive investment method. The application of the new special law remains open. The question of reliability and riskiness of such investments is ambiguous.

The digital economy is a new modern sphere of today’s economic life, completely changing the existing relationships and existing system models and methods of economic activity management. The need to accept new challenges of the time is due to the ongoing policy of digitalization of the world economy and planning aimed at improving the efficiency of the global telecommunications infrastructure and creating a competitive environment. The purpose of the study was to determine trends in the development of the digital economy in Russia and foreign countries using international rating systems. To achieve this goal, the article uses rating methods that directly or indirectly characterize the levels of development of the digital economy. The article examines theoretical approaches to defining the concepts of «digitalization» and «digital transformation». It is concluded that in most studies these concepts are used as synonyms. The main provisions of the existing international rating systems for assessing the level of digital development of national economies are disclosed. A distinctive feature of the study was a comprehensive approach to considering the country’s location in international rankings. Countries are ranked by the level of digital economic development. Special attention is paid to the position of the Russian Federation in international ratings in dynamics. Based on the analysis, it is concluded that the gap in the development of the digital economy in the world is simply huge. In conclusion, recommendations are made to accelerate the pace of digitalization of the Russian national economy. The results of the study can be used as a basis for further research in the field of digital economy development in Russia and foreign countries.