‘Poor legal protection of creditors (i.e. no legal instruments to help them get their loans back) is one of the indicators of an unstable consumer lending market. Illegal salaries that remain untaxed are another indicator: in case the bad debt suit gets to court, the money will be deducted from the borrower’s legal salary (which is much less than what the person actually makes),’ Sberbank of Russia’s Ural branch’s Private Customer Lending Director Vyacheslav Reshetnikov announced in the course of a round table discussion devoted to ways of enhancing Russia’s consumer lending market’s

Starting June 19, 2008, MegaFon’s customers subscribed to United tariff scheme can use the new Guest option. The offer can save money to customers who have relatives or business partners in different parts of Russia or abroad. The price of a phone call anywhere within Russia will cost you 3.9 RUR; international calls will cost you 6 RUR (VAT included). Depending on the scheme you choose (Long-Distance or International), your outgoing calls to Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldavia, Byelorussia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, China, Vietnam,

A conference on financial risk management and today’s approaches and innovational solutions in this field was held at the center for exhibition technologies in Yekaterinburg. The event was coordinated by the center itself, as well as Congress-Bureau of Yekaterinburg and Elite Corporate Conduct Club, and sponsored by Europe-Asia Information and Consulting Center. The conference was attended by businesses’ CEOs and proprietors, investors, experts from companies dealing in financial risk management, officials from the state-run public authorities, and employees of various legal and planning and

‘The ways and means of counterfeiting banknotes that fraudsters employ are extremely varied. At the same time, plenty of different ways to protect the notes have been designed and implemented by now. Yet people themselves also need to be careful when handling large portions of cash and large denomination banknotes. One has to know how to tell genuine money from counterfeit notes and has to put this knowledge to practice, while transactions involving a lot of money are better off when dealt with by banks,’ says SKB-Bank’s Operating Department’s Director Larisa Larionova. In the meantime,

Ural Federal District’s division of Rostechnadzor inspected the local ceramic goods plant for its compliance with the environmental legislation and revealed seventeen violations as a result. This includes management of hazardous waste and environmental decision-making performed by people without the necessary qualifications. Then, some unauthorized ceramic waste dumps (scrap tiles and the like) and bits of construction waste were illegally located on the company’s premises. To make matters worse, the plant deals in industrial and consumption waste treatment without proper licenses allowing it

SKB-Bank would be glad to see all the local reporters at the Q & A session chaired by the bank’s Chairman of the Board of Directors Mikhail Khodorovskiy; apart from the press briefing, some insights into the bank’s headquarters’ day-to-day operation will be provided. Visitors to the bank will get acquainted with SKB-Bank’s Elite-Bank (a VIP customer service division) and will also have a look at the bank’s safety vault and archives located in the basement as well as at the top executives’ offices. Then, a presentation of dealing rooms, cash-desk units, the data processing center, the

Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant’s stadium is currently hosting the preliminary stage of the city Leather Ball tournament, organized to celebrate the Metallurgist’s Day. Twelve children’s teams, including backyard clubs from Magnitka, Talitsa, and (for the first time this year) Bilimbai are competing for the place in the semi-final. The preliminary games will last for four days, with three backyard clubs playing each day. In the end, four strongest teams have to be selected, with valuable prizes for the winners. The Leather Ball’s semifinal and final games are to be played at the new sports-playing

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Ural Innovational Commercial Bank to private individuals for 181 days to 1 year dropped by 87.32% (from 9.206 million RUR to 1.167 million RUR) in January-May 2008.

While checking Tyumen customs’ compliance with the current legislation, Ural Federal District’s public prosecution authorities dealing in transport-related issues revealed that 201 TGM-4 track-laying vehicles from Ukraine went through the customs clearance between March 2004 and December 2007. The vehicles had the Russian Federation Ministry of Defense’s permits. The spokesperson for the public prosecution authorities reports the permits said that the vehicles should not be classed as military goods, as they had been subject to demilitarization and were fit for civilian use. ‘We requested the

Chelyabinsk Region’s division of Rostechnadzor (the state environmental, technological, and nuclear security watchdog) inspected a number of KB-473 tower cranes that were used by Legion-C and Legion in order to find the possible flaws and prevent their destruction, the spokesperson for Rostechnadzor’s Ural Federal District division reports. The inspections were brought about by a number of industrial accidents: on May 17, 2008, a KB-473 tower crane’s lower arm collapsed, leaving one worker badly injured. The accidents occurred at the intersection of Malyshev St and Lunacharskiy St, right in