Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the State Employment Service reports the number of gainfully occupied people in the region came to 2,422,000 on October 1, 2007, with 3.2% of wage and salary earners employed within the agricultural, forestry, and hunting sector, 2.8% employed within the mining industry, 14.9% employed within the manufacturing activity sector, 10.5% employed within metallurgical industry sector, 3.3% are busy making machinery and equipment (excluding weaponry and ammunition), 3.8% are employed in the electricity, natural gas, and water production and distribution sector, 6.3%

Ural Federal District’s division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs completed the investigation of a criminal case that involved a group of raiders guilty of stealing assets of Bogdanovich Porcelain Works. It was revealed in the course of the inquiry that the company’s CFO (who was part of a criminal group) stole some 24 million RUR belonging to the plant and transferred the money into a fictitious firm’s bank account, allegedly as a way of paying for the newest equipment which, in fact, was nothing but scrap metal. This resulted in an overwhelming decrease in the volume of the company’s

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) is going to launch its large family aid program in January 2008. The program aims to improve the living standards and health of the company’s employees as well as their social status and prestige and thus make having many children more popular. The company currently has data on 281 large families, and the program is to cover families with three or more children under the age of eighteen, provided the employees have no bad disciplinary records. It covers social aid, healthcare, education, and sports through things like monthly allowances, birthday

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by AGROPROMBANK Credit to sole traders for 1 to 3 years went down by 41.43% (from 44.2 million RUR to 25.89 million RUR) in January-October 2007.

UC RUSAL has been making presentations on its new website on aluminum (www.aluminiumleader.com) in towns and cities of Sverdlovsk Region lately. Two such presentations took place in Ural State Technical University and in Ural State University of Mines. Students were thus able to learn about the scientists who discovered aluminum and thought up a way to use it for industrial purposes as well as about the aluminum production process and the fields of its application. The presentations were followed by short documentaries about the future of the Earth and a discussion devoted to the global metal

SKB-Bank introduced three new ATMs in Yamalo-Nenetsk Autonomous Region, Khanty-Mansiyskiy Autonomous Region, and Perm Territory. The new machines are located in Noviy Urengoi, Megion, and Perm. Raising the number of its ATMs is part of the bank’s infrastructure development as well as an attempt to meet the customers’ demands (there are already more than 400,000 cardholders among them already). SKB-Bank is Russia’s largest regional bank in terms of ATM network development; it owns 210 machines in dozens of Russian cities, the bank’s press officer says.

SKB-Bank has come up with new and more attractive deposit offers for its customers. You can now get the annual interest rates of 11%, 12.25%, and 12.75% over six months, one year, and three years, respectively, on the bank’s Gold Standard deposit. The lower limit on a deposit was determined at 100,000 RUR, but the more money you deposit, the higher the interest rate goes. And there is the advantage of a monthly capitalization of interest into the bargain. 'This deposit’s popularity stems not only from its obvious profitability but also from the fact that we offer our customers Visa Gold

Ural Treasures Bank began the Business Season 2007/08: a special program that was first introduced in 2004 to ensure better cooperation with the bank’s partners and customers. The program provides for events like round table discussions, seminars, product presentations, and meetings attended by the bank’s top management as well as informal club gatherings. This year’s Business Season starts with a case study devoted to applying for and getting a bank loan. Then, the bank’s customers and employees are to take part in a bowling championship.

The bank’s official website informs its customers that since November 22, 2007 is a public holiday in the United States, Severnaya Kazna is not going to handle any outward dollar payments for one day. All the dollar payments and stock trading operations will be performed on November 23, 2007, though.

Khortytsa Distillery is for the first time giving all of its customers a chance to watch their production process online using the company’s official website. The spokesperson for the company says guaranteed quality is becoming a must for someone who wants to be successful on the strong drinks market, so producers come up with more and more ways of enhancing the customers’ loyalty to and faith in the product. Khortytsa goes for production upgrades every six months, and their last innovation consisted in installing web cameras in all of the production departments. There are cameras in the

The Central Bank of Russia put URSA Bank’s five-billion-ruble bond issue (No. 40700323В) on its pawn list on November 13, 2007. This is going to be the bank’s fifth bond issue to get on this list, preceded by two 1.5-billion-ruble bonds and two 3-billion ruble ones. Repurchase agreements can be signed as soon as the Central Bank’s letter appears in the bank’s official newsletter and after the bonds are made available at MICEX stock exchange. URSA Bank went through with the bond issue on July 26, 2007. These will be in circulation for five years.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by SberInvestBank to sole traders for 1 to 3 years went down by 50.38% (from 13.1 million RUR to 6.5 million RUR) in January-October 2007.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Tagilbank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 181 days to 1 year went down by 41.1% (from 59.1 million RUR to 34.81 million RUR) in January-October 2007.

The court of Revda, Sverdlovsk Region, found a local sole trader guilty of violating Universal Pictures’ copyrights. It was detected in the course of a preliminary investigation that in April 2007, a thirty-year-old businessman bought 19 pirated DVDs with a number of feature films on them that are exclusively owned by Universal Pictures. He was then going to sell those on one of Revda’s markets and make some profit. The local law-enforcement officers confiscated the pirated items after the offender’s intent to make illegal profit had been proved. The unfortunate businessman was estimated to

URSA Bank carried out its first prize-drawing procedure for customers who used the bank’s Cozy Deposits. As a result, 165 depositors were given cozy gifts such as comfy pillows, some warm plaids, and sets of towels; these things that make a home nice and warm could be received by anyone who deposited at least 50,000 RUR, $2,000, or Ï2,000 with URSA Bank between October 1, 2007 and November 2, 2007. The second prize drawing will take place on December 1, 2007; these prizes can be received by customers whose deposits haven’t won anything yet. 'I congratulate the winners with all my heart!

The value of net assets of Energy - Mixed Investments (the unit investment trust) managed by Eurogreen Management Company Ltd. went down by 1.76% between November 16, 2007 and November 19, 2007. According to Eurogreen’s website, the company’s net assets decreased from 3,853,176.97 RUR on November 16, 2007 to 3,785,335.19 RUR on November 19, 2007.

The Bank of Russia’s Banking Surveillance Committee admitted in November 2004 that SKB-Bank met all the requirements imposed on the members of the state deposit insurance system. The system in question was believed to support the country’s financial stability, make Russian people trust the national financial organizations more, and strengthen the banking system. SKB-Bank’s analysts observe Russian people did start to have more faith in commercial banks after all: 'Three years ago, the volume of natural persons’ deposits in SKB-Bank only came to less than 2 billion RUR, whereas this

Bank Severnaya Kazna’s text message server could malfunction on November 21, 2007, their corporate website reports. Problems might arise between 9.30 AM and 10.30 AM because of the server’s scheduled checkup procedures.

Autoland Company has so far been unable to comment on the possible outcomes of a strike at Ford’s factory in Leningrad Region, even though the cars made there are supplied to Yekaterinburg as well as number of other Russian cities. According to Ford’s official website, the strike is expected to last at least until November 26, 2007. 'A strike could not possibly result in us meeting the workers’ demands, as the collective agreement we signed at the beginning of the year is valid through February 2008. As for the next agreement, the parties involved are supposed to start negotiating on the

UC RUSAL set up a number of Social Welfare Project Center subsidiaries in Sverdlovsk Region. The events were coordinated by representatives of local governments, small and medium-scale business executives, members of regional NGOs, and educational establishments in Severouralsk, Krasnoturinsk, and Kamensk-Uralskiy. UC RUSAL's local press officer Roman Lukichev says the company is planning on implementing seven charity projects in Sverdlovsk Region, to be coordinated by the Social Welfare Project Center. The local subsidiaries are expected to provide the authorities with all the data