A few pieces of heavy-duty rolled metal produce were piloted in Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works/MMK’s sheet-rolling shop in December 2007. All these goods belong to the X80 durability category. According to MMK’s press officer, these experimental products were made for Volzhskiy Pipe Plant. Their manufacturing was made possible after restoration of cold-rolling mill 2000 that has already been used for making coil stock. The testing of the products confirmed their durability at X70 or even X80, so the goods have already been shipped to Volzhskiy Pipe Plant that will be using them for

The volume of SKB-Bank’s net assets reached 29,563,609 RUR on December 1, 2007, which exceeds the figures for January 1, 2007 by 54.2%. This information is available from Severnaya Kazna Bank’s official website in the report on the performance of largest banks located in Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Tyumen Regions and Perm Territory in five months of 2007.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of non-profit NGOs’ deposits in SberInvestBank valid for 1 to 3 years went down by 82.5% (from 20 million RUR to 3.5 million RUR) in January-November 2007.

The brand known as URSA Bank entered the Russian banking market a year ago. Today, URSA Bank is Russia’s 16th largest bank in terms of assets: these, according to Interfax-CEA, increased by more than 65% compared to the beginning of 2007. In addition, the bank is now Russia’s second largest bank in terms of asset growth dynamics, 17th largest in terms of capital volume, 13th largest in terms of natural persons’ deposit volume, and 5th largest in terms of consumer loan volume, the bank’s press officer reports. According to The Finance magazine’s rating published in October 2007, URSA Bank was

Ural Airlines is going to operate a chartered flight to Vietnam, with the plane taking off in Yekaterinburg on December 29, 2007. The flight was ordered by More Travel. Russian citizens will be able to enjoy a nice break in Vietnam from December 28, 2007 to January 11, 2008. The spokesperson for the company reports the flight will be operated using an IL 86 (business class provided). There will be one refueling stop in Lahore on Yekaterinburg-Ho Chi Minh flight and a stop in Delhi on Ho Chi Minh-Yekaterinburg flight. According to More Travel’s GD Dmitriy Kushev, tours to Vietnam are 40%

The Chairman of RAO UES of Russia Anatoly Chubais is going to visit Yekaterinburg for one day. He is expected to join Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel in the launching ceremony of Yemelino substation, conduct a media briefing and take part in a meeting devoted to evaluating the effectiveness of the agreement signed by RAO UES of Russia and Sverdlovsk Region Government some while ago.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Tagilbank to natural persons for 181 days to 1 year went down by 21.49% (from 20.387 million RUR to 16. 005 million RUR) in January-November 2007.

Bank UralSib is going to be given professional counseling on how to best sell a part of its stock in January 2008. The name of the consultant is not being revealed until all the tender procedures have been formalized, RBC daily reports. The bank’s Vice President Alexader Vikhrov was unwilling to provide any comments, yet RBC says the bank appears to be quite prepared to give up on the idea of an IPO and is reported to be negotiating for selling 25% to 49% of its shares to a western bank. In the meantime, the bank’s net loss reached 2.87 billion RUR in January-June 2007.

UC RUSAL acquired 25% plus one share of Norilsk Nickel from ONEKSIM Group. The company’s press officer reports this transaction is seen as UC RUSAL’s first step towards creating Russia’s first global and diversified mining and metallurgical enterprise. The acquisition agreement was signed in November and came into effect on December 21, 2007. In return, ONEKSIM Group is going to get 11% of RUSAL’s shares, some money, and a membership in the company’s Board. 'We intend to set up a global mining and metallurgical enterprise that is to become one of the world’s Top 5 metallurgical giants.

The share of overdue debt in VUZ Bank’s portfolio rose by 2.7%, or 6,626,000 RUR in January-November 2007 against 66,778,000 RUR in January 2007. This information is available from Severnaya Kazna Bank’s official website in the report on the performance of largest banks located in Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Tyumen Regions and Perm Territory in five months of 2007.

Overdue debt on UralTransBank’s consumer loans reached 118.443 million RUR on December 1, 2007, which exceeds the figures for January 1, 2007 by 3.7%, or 4,472,000 RUR. This information is available from Severnaya Kazna Bank’s official website in the report on the performance of largest banks located in Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Tyumen Regions and Perm Territory in five months of 2007.