RBC-Rating analysts did a research on Russia’s plastic card market in the first half of 2007, with data provided by 109 Russian banks. Five banks on the Top 25 card-issuing banks list are actually based in Sverdlovsk Region. SKB-Bank was rated 25th in the All-Russian ranking and 1st in the Mid-Urals one. The number of cards issued by the bank amounted to 350,640 by July 1, 2007. Central Bank of Russia reports 727 banks that deal in issuance and acquiring have been registered in Russia by July 2007; these figures cover 679 issuers and 646 acquirers. In the meantime, Moscow (including Moscow

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Plato Bank to sole traders for 1 to 3 years went down by 61.4% (from 1.66 million RUR to 640,000 RUR) in January-July 2007.

Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) declared it was going to inspect companies that sell American toys with excessive content of lead. The issue has been brought about by Mattel being reported to have some metal in a shipment consisting of Barbie dolls and Sergeant cars, which is why the toy-maker announced it was going to withdraw 436,000 toys (including the magnet ones) that had been produced between January 2002 and January 2007. Rospotrebnadzor says there are no data on whether any of these toys have been imported to Russia. 'We do sell Mattel toys, but we haven’t

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by VUZ Bank to sole traders despite overdraft account went down by 58.9% (from 4.589 million RUR to 1.886 million RUR) in January-July 2007.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of profit-making self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in Uralfinance Bank valid for 181 days to 1 year went down by 11.8% (from 8.5 million RUR to 7.5 million RUR) in January-July 2007.

A flight operated by Aviaprad was delayed once again; a plane coming to Yekaterinburg from Nyagan was supposed to have arrived in Yekaterinburg at 1.55 PM yet the interactive timetable used in Koltsovo airport read that Aviaprad’s flight would only land at 3.05 PM. On top of that, an Aviaprad’s plane arriving from Norilsk would only arrive in Yekaterinburg at 3.05 PM rather than the scheduled 2 PM on August 17, 2007.

Sverdlovsk Region Anti-Terrorist Committee members met in order to elaborate some extra measures that could enhance the anti-terrorist protection of railway transport. In the absence of the Governor the meeting was chaired by the head of the regional security services Boris Kozinenko. The spokesperson for the Governor reports the meeting was summoned after an act of terror performed at Oktyabrskiy Railways that caused derailing of a passenger train going from Moscow to Saint Petersburg on August 13, 2007. The meeting attendees said their most pressing problem at the moment was the stealing of

The Ural branch of URSA Bank launched the URSA Bank Money Order campaign, which means that any customer who uses the bank’s system to have at least 20,000 RUR, $700, or ?700 transferred for them between August 13, 2007 and October 31, 2007 can take part in a prize-winning lottery; the drawing is scheduled for November 2, 2007, and the prize is a communicator phone. ‘URSA Bank’s money orders are a quick and dynamic way of having your money reach the person who needs it most. Our customers use the service not only to help their nearest and dearest, pay their tuition fees, or make a loan

'The most wide-spread adulterated goods that are imported to Russia on the whole and the Urals in particular this year are vegetables, fruit, meat, and strong drinks. Most of these goods come from Central Asia. The customs officers from the Ural Customs Administration say they find faults with goods from China particularly frequently; this usually pertains to clothes, footwear, and toys. As regards Kazakhstan, problems are normally related to meat and fruit,’ Deputy Head of Ural Customs Administration Vadim Myasnikov announced at a press conference on August 17, 2007. 'Russia also

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by UralTransBank to state-owned profit-making organizations for 1 to 3 years went down by 35.3% (from 912,000 RUR to 590,000 RUR) in January-July 2007.