Football’s transfer market "is getting an extra kick from offshore lending," even as UEFA tries to restrict record spending, according to Alex Duff of BLOOMBERG. A person with direct knowledge of the deals said that Vibrac Corp., "a closely held lender in the British Virgin Islands," financed as much as £150M ($245M) of loans in England, Spain and Germany last year. Raffaele Poli, a researcher at CIES Football Observatory in Neuchatel, Switzerland, said that as UEFA "tries to rein in spending with so-called financial fair play rules, some teams are still taking business risks by signing players." Poli said, "UEFA’s rules aren’t having as much of an effect as they would like." Middle and low-ranking clubs "are taking risks to keep up with the bigger ones." Poli said "to be sure, the biggest factor contributing to the transfer spending boom" is an increase in EPL TV rights money. London law firm Farrer & Co. banking attorney Martin Blake said that smaller teams are turning to offshore lenders "after banks retreated" from football following the '07 financial crisis. Blake said, "The vast majority of clubs just don’t have the money to pay up front." Vibrac "loaned money against future Premier League income" including TV revenue to U.K. teams including West Ham, Southampton, Everton, Fulham and Reading since '11. Mousehole Ltd., "which is also registered in the British Virgins Islands, financed Atletico Madrid, Getafe and Deportivo La Coruna in Spain and Germany’s Hertha Berlin in 2011" (BLOOMBERG, 9/29).