RBC.Rating came up with a ranking of Russia’s leading banks that have experienced the greatest subsidiary network expansion since the beginning of the year. Just like a year ago, the Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development hit Russia’s Top 100 banks list that features banks with the most extensive subsidiary and office network. This year, not only has the bank remained in the rating, but it was also promoted from the 27th to the 22nd position.

The Russian banks’ attempts to break into the regional markets this year is believed to be one of the year’s most salient trends. The total number of all Russian banks’ new offices increased by 2,534 units and came to over 38,000 outlets in January-August 2007. The main reasons for this were stable income growth and relatively little competition among the banks.

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development has been particularly active this year as it managed to both introduce more offices at home, that is, in Sverdlovsk Region, and build up on the number of outlets in other parts of Russia quite noticeably. The newly entered cities include Sterlitamak, Orenburg, and Voronezh, the bank’s press officer reports.

The bank has already made its services available to eight Russian regions, namely, Sverdlovsk Region, Chelyabinsk Region, Moscow, Kirov, Perm, Ufa, Orenburg, and Voronezh. The bank’s subsidiary network comprises seventy-eight units, including nine subsidiaries, fifty-eight additional offices, two operational offices, and nine point-of-sale terminals.

'We’ve set up twenty-three new units since the beginning of the year and we’ll have introduced twelve more outlets before the end of the year. This means our network will comprise as many as ninety offices altogether,’ says Vice President Andrei Cherkashev.