The purpose of this post is just to share initial observations, hopefully get advice from other people and point out some issues to developers. I played the game for a few days, really like it, and here are my notes (based on medium and hard difficulty, but I have not tried ultra hard level yet):
1. Starting country (which is not actually a country, but just a bonus selection): France seems to be the best option, especially if the player wants to complete the FedReserve missions. +25% influence gain is very important, for both improving relations with regions and completing missions later on (they require a big amount of influence points). The second best option is possibly Austria (again if the player wants to go the FedReserve route).
2. Starting location: In Europe Italy (e.g. Tuscany) seems to be a good option due to high development and expansion possibilities. Also Ireland, Navarra (if neighbors are aggressive the player may expand through wars faster).
3. Goal: there are three ways to win the game - buying out 51% IMF share (probably the easiest one), completing FedReserve missions and domination by pushing other banks out of business. Personally I liked only the FedReserve route. Buying IMF shares depends too much on randomness during auctions (I think there should be some better way to implement this mechanic). Domination depends on actions that AI banks do not do (at least this is how I got it), so this feels like cheating. Giving loans to competitors and then they go bankrupt for no reason is just a bad game mechanic. If the goal is selected there is no need to invest in achieving another goal, e.g. to participate in IMF auctions if the player goes the FedReserve way (just make sure no AI bank gets 51% of IMF).It would be great if AI was also pursuing the FedReserve goal and the game showed progress of the player vs AI banks.
4. Making money: my personal choice is to focus only on investments in industry and real estate, avoiding credits completely. After the first game (when I tried credits too) I stopped hiring credit managers and giving loans. I hired guards only for completing FedReserve missions and taking some orders (e.g. Magnates orders). I did not like credits because of a lot of repetitive micro-management and the profit rate did not look more favorable. I would rather focus on optimizing investments and have better game experience. In addition I save/redirect money - no cost for hiring and upgrading the credits department. I also abandoned farms completely. This seems to be another standalone option with no better profit return but with extra costs.
5. Important goods: wood and iron (and later coal) are surely very important because they are used for arms production, which helps to make good money (by selling to a war participant) and influence war outcomes as needed. Silver, sapphire and ruby are important for completing FedReserve missions. Btw, devs, please make some indicators for each investment option - the development level of the region and if the player already has the same type of asset there. This would be super helpful.
6. Opening new countries/regions: in early game I prefer to find a 1-2-region country (good resources would be a plus) that has no banks in it and is about to finish the war. So I just open it and sell arms so that it wins the war. This way I get extra territory for free (just need to check before the opening and war that there was no competitor either). You need to keep expanding so that you could upgrade departments. From espionage standpoint it seems to be better to have fewer countries, but more regions in them. So you spend less influence on keeping good relations. However having more countries helps to expand for free in case they get involved into wars (more wars then) and you make sure they win. It is better to have your countries at some distance so that they do not fight each other. Then you can ask them to start wars (in espionage window). After getting HQ to level 15 there is probably not much value in expansion (possibly just for rare goods for FedReserve missions), unless the player goes for domination victory. I think the player is better off by increasing investments capacity and development level of already controlled regions. The region with dev level 20 gives a great % rate of return on investments.
7. Wars: very easy to win if you support some countries - just sell enough arms and the outcome is known. This is quite disappointing actually, as it feels like you play vs very stupid AI that does not care about countries of its interest. Not sure if devs are going to address this issue somehow. I think there is now a poor balance of available arms vs armies strength.
8. Selling arms: the best price seems to be offered by wars participants. I keep stock of all types (just produce diverse mix) and sell the one that has the best profitability at the moment (the prices of arms types fluctuate).
9. Spending in increasing investments capacity: really helps to generate new investment options (in addition to the standard one each turn) and create big value assets (just make sure you have available money to buy them right away). Then you can spend money on development level in the same region and get a great combination of high value asset and high rate of return on it. Such assets seem to be really cash cows.
10. Real estate: it is just fine, there seems to be no need to prioritize most luxury goods vs real estate. Good cash inflow in high development regions with no clicking buttons in trade exchange etc.
11. Relations with countries: devs automated it a bit. After several turns I just select the cheapest (and most efficient) option for improving relations and it is automaticaly done each turn. I just switch it off when needed. The option that allows the player to ask the country to start a war opens relatively early, so this helps to expand. Btw, devs need to fix the espionage window - it is bugged if the list is long and the player has to scroll.
12. Managers: hiring/salary costs are relatively low. So I normally go for experts right away and select from many candidates. The player needs to replace them gradually (with higher skill managers) as the departments get upgraded. I think it is important to have great staff in espionage for better influence gain for FedReserve missions.

This is probably main initial observations, though my playstyle may be a bit specific. Please share your advice or correct me on some points. Have fun playind EBM! Devs, thank you for creating this game and keeping improving it!