‘There are already over a thousand people in Sverdlovsk Region who were prevented from going abroad by the judiciary authorities. The limitations apply only to the foreign countries, a person is free to travel anywhere within Russia,’ head of Sverdlovsk Region’s Officers of Justice Administration Vladimir Schepotin announced in the course of a recent press conference. These authorities are empowered to prevent a person from going abroad only if there is a corresponding court decision to this extent (the decision normally resulting from a person’s debts). The limitations apply to both business

RBC.Rating’s analysts came up with the report on the performance of Russia’s largest banks in the first quarter of 2008. It appears that the country’s banking system’s development has slowed down a bit, as the total volume of banks’ assets only rose by 37.5% between April 2007 and April 2008 against the 49.7% increase between April 2006 and April 2007. Most Ural banks’ growth was comparable with the country’s average figures in January-March 2008. SKB-Bank was the fastest-growing bank among those based in the Urals on the country’s Top 100 list; the bank’s assets went up by over 65%

According to Airbus’s official data, Ural Airlines has recently set an unprecedented operation record involving the use of A-320 aircraft. The company’s daily average use of Airbus planes came to 13.02 hours in March 2008 (while all the scheduled maintenance operations were strictly adhered to). ‘We looked into our data and have to say that this is the most impressive figure among all the existing carriers of the world,’ says Airbus’s local representative. This means that Ural Airlines’ Marketing and Timetable experts managed to plan the flight timetable and make amends for the average

The data regarding the final stage of repurchasing Koltsovo airport’s shares was made available via the airport’s official website on June 4, 2008 and removed from the newswire the next day. The airport initially announced that they were willing to buy the shares from the stockholders according to their actual value. At the moment, the airport’s stock is owned by Koltsovo-Invest (RENOVA Group), with its 45.26% shareholding, Rosimuschestvo, with its 34.56% shareholding, and Cyprus-based Fulgate Consultants Limited with its 6.6% shareholding. The official purchaser of shares is Rusaviaholding,

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of nongovernmental financial institutions’ deposits in Perviy Respublikanskiy Bank valid for 31 to 180 days went down by 50% (from 10 million RUR to 5 million RUR) in January-May 2008.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Bank24.ru to sole traders for up to 30 days dropped by 70% (from 50 million RUR to 15 million RUR) in January-May 2008.

Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (part of ChTPZ Group) had two kinds of its pipes (particularly thin-walled pipes made of corrosion-resistant steel according to technical specifications 14-159-293 and improved quality capillary tubes made of some corrosion-resistant alloy according to technical specifications 14-159-264 meant for the nuclear power industry) tested by a number of experts within the framework of Russian Quality, the federal program. Both kinds of pipes were classed as the highest quality ones. The spokesperson for ChTPZ Group reports the evaluation process consisted of analyzing the

URSA Bank set up its 122nd office in Revda, Sverdlovsk Region. The new outlet offers its customers consumer loans and mortgages as well as loans meant for facilitating business development and other kinds of crediting schemes and other banking services, URSA Bank’s press officer says. This Revdinskiy office is located at 21 Gorkiy St. and welcomes visitors from 9 AM to 8 PM on weekdays, from 10 AM to 6 PM on Saturdays, and from 10 AM to 4 PM on Sundays. Legal entities are dealt with from 9 AM to 4 PM on weekdays.

The net profit made by Novolipetsk Iron & Steel Works in the first quarter of 2008 (calculated on the basis of US GAAP) reached $617.7m, which is 35% better than in the first quarter of 2007, the spokesperson for the enterprise reports. At the same time, the company’ EBITDA margin went down from 43% to 47% in January-March 2008. Experts believe this has to do with Novolipetsk Iron & Steel Works acquiring Maxi Group’s 50% plus one share in December 2007; this cost the former some $600m. Maxi Group then admitted that the company was on the verge of collapse, as most banks refused to let

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development was featured in Credcard’s rating of Russia’s top twenty banks that are seen as the most reliable ones by the cardholders. The rating, featuring both regional and federal-scale banks, was based on the results of online voting (with 25,000 respondents taking part). The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development was given the 13th best position and received 7.67% out of 8.62% among the Urals-based banks that made it to the list. The results of the rating are an independent assessment of banking services made by the customers through a special