According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by UralTransBank to private individuals for 31 to 90 days plummeted by 83.99% (from 2.105 million RUR to 337,000 RUR) in January-May 2008.

The Australian Ausmelt Limited won the second prize in the Metal Production category in the course of the annual PACE Zenith contest for its Zvezda project implemented by Russian Copper Company in the town of Karabash. The awarding ceremony took place in Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia, on June 18, 2008. The contest was coordinated by Process and Control Engineering, the Australian magazine, in order to motivate the world’s leading engineering enterprises and technological innovators as well as to help them become known to the public. ‘This is a significant achievement and a sign of great

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of private individuals’ deposits in Uralprivatbank valid for 91 to 180 days went down by 27.73% (from 3.866 million RUR to 2.794 million RUR) in January-May 2008.

According to URSA Bank’s unaudited financial statement (drawn up in compliance with the Russian accounting standards), the bank’s assets reached $7.5bn in January-March 2008, which is 1.5 times better than a year earlier. The bank’s own funds doubled over the year and amounted to $1.29bn. At the same time, URSA Bank’s profit came to $66.3m in the first quarter of 2008, which exceeds the figures for a year earlier by 2.7 times. The bank’s net loan portfolio reached $5.8bn on April 1, 2008, which was 1.6 times better than on April 1, 2007. Bad debt (with payments delayed for over ninety days)

According to the data available as of June 1, 2008, the volume of private customers’ investments in SKB-Bank exceeded 11.5 billion RUR, which is 34% better than at the beginning of the year and is the top growth achievement among all the Ural banks. ‘This growth dynamics can be explained by a number of factors, for instance, our convenient and profitable deposit offers as well as the image we managed to create of being a stable and reliable financial body,’ says SKB-Bank’s Deposit Director Denis Belogurov.

Mars Sharafulin and UMMC’s clash over who gets to control Demidov Business Center of Yekaterinburg moved into a new phase after the former acquired Lobvinskiy biochemical plant. This alcohol-producing plant, formerly owned by Pavel Fedulev, a local entrepreneur, had gone bankrupt. In April 2008, some workers went on a hunger strike, demanding their wages and resumption of work. The hunger strike was only stopped after Sverdlovsk Region Government decided to sell the plant to an investor who would pay off the enterprise’s debts and could spend some money on the technical upgrades. Finding such

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank valid for 31 to 90 days dropped by 49.50% (from 20.001 million RUR to 10.1 million RUR) in January-May 2008.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of private individuals’ demand deposits in Bank Uralfinance went down by 30.34% (from 16.047 million RUR to 11.178 million RUR) in January-May 2008.

‘Any flaws that a car might have can only be handled through the dealer network. In case the problem originated at the plant, the dealer must contact the plant through the maintenance department and find a solution,’ Taganrog car factory’s Marketing Director Marina Zavolzhenskaya said to UrBC. In the meantime, one of Yekaterinburg-based Okami Vostok’s customers bought a Hyundai Accent with an air conditioner in March 2008; as soon as the hot summer days came, it became clear that the conditioner was not working. The car owner believes that despite the pre-sale preparation, the car sold by the

‘Okami Vostok should have checked whether the air conditioner was working during their pre-sale preparation,’ Autosun car center reports. One of Yekaterinburg-based Okami Vostok’s customers bought a Hyundai Accent with an air conditioner in March 2008; as soon as the hot summer days came, it became clear that the conditioner was not working. The car owner believes that despite the pre-sale preparation, the car sold by the dealer was initially defective. Okami’s experts think the faulty condition emerged in the process of manufacturing the car. According to the unhappy customer, Okami Vostok