‘Today, Sverdlovsk Region Court decided to cancel the arrest warrant produced by Nevyanskiy municipal court in respect of Oleg Cherepanov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of NOVA Group,’ the spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region Court Ekaterina Maslennikova said to UrBC representative. Mr Cherepanov is to be released from the detention ward in the nearest future, as soon as all the papers regarding the case are placed with the authorities of Nizhniy Tagil-based prison. The public prosecution bodies are going to petition for his arrest again, but the case will have to be considered by a

A round table discussion devoted to Russian stock and money markets in 2006 -2007 was held in Yekaterinburg on January 31, 2007. In the course of the discussion, the results of the forecast contest held among Sverdlovsk Region bank experts and analysts last year were announced as well. The Financial Bodies and Investment Services Department of Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development won in the long-term forecasts category. ‘One might expect RTS index to reach the point of 2,210, the dollar/ruble exchange rate to come to 26, and that of euro/ruble to 34.32,’ says Vladimir Zotov, Financial

A round table discussion devoted to Russian stock and money markets in 2006 -2007 was held in Yekaterinburg on January 31, 2007. In the course of the discussion, the results of the forecast contest held among Sverdlovsk Region bank experts and analysts last year were announced as well. Stock Market Operations Department of SKB-Bank won in the short-term forecasts category. ‘I expect RTS index to reach the point of 2,600, the dollar/ruble exchange rate to come to 25.80, and that of euro/ruble to 34.30 in 2007,’ says Anton Mikheev, Stock Market Operations Director of SKB-Bank.

ISB Bank (Investment and Savings Bank) published a report on Sverdlovsk Region’s financial transactions in January-September 2006. The amount of money deposited by the regional banks into correspondent accounts and inter-branch accounts went up 32.5% compared to October 1, 2005. The banks deposited 8.9% of the total amount into the correspondent accounts of Sberbank of Russia, 4% into nostro accounts, and 87.1% into inter-branch accounts. The regional banks kept accumulating funds on correspondent accounts in the third quarter of 2006, so the amount of money in correspondent accounts of

‘The shares of Sberbank of Russia going through the so-called ‘people’s IPO’ are definitely not attractive for most investors. To start with, it is unclear how the money obtained in the course of the initial offering is going to be used, so the funds are likely to be inefficiently ‘dispersed’. Then, it is the Central Bank of Russia that is acting as the underwriter, and this bank is allowed by the central financial authorities to sustain funds through issuing shares and securities. So the stock floatation is meant for something different from traditional investment purposes,’ says Vsevolod,

According to the report on the state of the environment and the way environmental factors affect the health of Sverdlovsk Region population, Reftinskaya power station (part of TGK-9) is Sverdlovsk Region’s major manufacturing water producer among power-supplying enterprises; its share in the total amount of manufacturing water dumped by the regional power suppliers comes to 4.47m cubic meters, or 14%.

Energogenie Ltd. stopped operating in Sverdlovsk Region, reports the spokesperson for SverdlovEnergoSbyt, the region’s major power supplier. SverdlovEnergoSbyt received an official notification from V. Sokolov, the director of Energogenie’s local subsidiary; the letter said that their agreement regarding purchase and sale of electricity was no longer valid. Mr Sokolov also asked SverdlovEnergoSbyt to sign service contracts with the company’s consumers. Energogenie Ltd. emerged in September 2005 and originally aimed to build its share of the regional electricity market to 30%. Yet it wasn’t

The Ural division of Sberbank of Russia rebutted the statement made by United Billing Office regarding the 3% commission allegedly taken by the bank when processing housing bills issued by the office. ‘Sberbank never charged its clients for paying their bills through the bank. The report produced by United Billing Office was incomplete and thus inaccurate,’ the bank’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative. The spokesperson explained that Ural Bank of Sberbank of Russia was going to come up with an official report on the issue in the nearest future.

‘The expert committee of Federal Antimonopoly Service declared today that the management of Koltsovo airport violated the antimonopoly law by introducing very firm fuel prices,’ Head of Sverdlovsk Region division of Federal Antimonopoly Service Tatiana Kolotova said to UrBC representative. ‘Koltsovo airport was ordered to produce monthly reports on its fuel prices as well as papers that justify the possible increase in the price,’ Ms Kolotova said.

The executives of Rosaviation gave warnings to VIM-Avia, Siberia, Krasnoyarsk Airlines, and Bashkortostan, since these carriers violated the rules of performing chartered flights during the winter holiday season. ‘We’ve looked into all the cases when flights were delayed and talked to the airline management. As a result, VIM-Avia, Siberia, Krasnoyarsk Airlines, and Bashkortostan received a number of warnings,’ says Evgeniy Bachurin, Deputy Head of Rosaviation. He observed that, should the companies fail to eliminate the violations or come up with new ones, their aircraft operator certificates