All of MegaFon Ural’s customers who subscribe to the mobile operator’s Domashniy Prostor, Vyzov, Mobile Fresh, Student, MegaFon-Modem, MegaFon Modem Plus, Smeshariki, Olympus, Bonus Time, Drive, and Individual tariffs between September 8, 2008 and December 31, 2008 can use the company’s Live Balance special offer free of charge for forty days, the operator’s press officer reports. Live Balance means you can see the regular updates on your cell phone account balance right on the screen. After you’ve made a phone call, sent a text message or used any other paid service, the balance changes will

Sberbank’s Ural branch keeps working on its long-term loan offers and financial billion-ruble construction and investment projects, including, for example, the Affordable Housing program and the Academic multi-faceted area development project. Their largest investment project comes to 6 billion RUR, says Sberbank of Russia’s Ural branch’s Deputy Chairman Oleg Fedotov. ‘We are currently supporting the Urals’ economy with 70 billion RUR through our financing and credit offers, with 20 to 25 billion RUR invested in construction projects and the rest in industry and agriculture. This means we can

The 3d Russian congress on promissory notes will take place at Atrium Palace Hotel, 44 Kuibyshev St. Yekaterinburg on October 3, 2008. This major stock market event is coordinated by SKB-Bank, their press officer says. The Congress coordinators reports Yekaterinburg has been chosen this year because of the city’s impressive economic growth, extensive financial infrastructure, and the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in 2009. ‘The Congress’s success in Kazan and Samara in 2006 and 2007, respectively, proves that the promissory notes enjoy stable demand within Russia’s

‘The bank deposit market is greatly diversified, with offers varying in both the interest rate and the amount of money one can deposit, as well as in the kind of currency you use and the sort of assets you invest in. URSA Bank’s latest offer is definitely a great marketing solution aimed at the customers who want to get a lot of things in one,’ says Unicom Partner Investment Company’s Deputy GD Dmitriy Zemerov. URSA Bank’s Magnificent Seven deposit is unique that it provides for a flexible interest rate, the topping up and withdrawal option, and a very reasonable down installment sum and the

The possible increase of the financial guarantee sum up to 150 million RUR will probably make the tour operators more careful when scheduling their flight offers, since few operators can afford to pay the sum in case some problems pop up. A portion of irresponsible companies will definitely have to quit the market,’ Director of Tez Tour’s Ural branch Igor Avdokushin said to an UrBC reporter. Russian Federation State Duma deputy Vladislav Reznik proposed a draft that would provide for the increase in the amount of financial security the tour operators would have to guarantee their customers

MOTIV, a large telecommunications group, completed the construction of their own long-distance/ international connection network and got all the necessary permits to operate it. The company’s application for access codes is already being considered by the Ministry for IT and Communication. MOTIV thus runs four international nodes in Yekaterinburg, Moscow, Rostov-on-Don, and Vladivostok, as well as seven long-distance nodes in Yekaterinburg, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Samara, Rostov-on-Don, Novosibirsk, and Vladivostok. In addition, there are eighty-six regional access nodes to support the

Ural Customs Administration directed 5.94 billion RUR to the federal budget in August 2008, which exceeds the initially planned figures by 11.1%, the spokesperson for the Administration reports. The Administration transferred 40.1 billion RUR (rather than the initially planned 33.5 billion RUR) into the federal budget in January-August 2008, thus exceeding the plan by 19.6%. Both import and export components of the customs duty payments have been collected in full.

‘The state of the market today proves that a serious downfall is always followed by recovery. The business closed at 1,469.15 points on Friday, which was over 1,000 points below mid-May’s figures. On Monday, however, the market soared thanks to the long-awaited good news regarding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s nationalization procedures,’ SKB-Bank’s Trading Operations Director Evgeniy Batuyev said to UrBC. ‘What is more, the market was further stimulated by the gradual reassessment of the North Caucasus conflict’s impact on Russian economic climate through both a number of official

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Uralprivatbank to sole traders for 31 to 90 days plummeted by 100% (from 600,000 RUR to zero) in January-August 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by VUZ-Bank to for-profit non-state organizations for up to 30 days went down by 64.64% (from 20.15 million RUR to 7.125 million RUR) in January-August 2008.

A group of the Czech ALTA’s representatives arrived at Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) to discuss the issues related to financing the construction of Prioskolskiy Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise in Belgorod Region, Russia as well as a number of other cooperation options the two businesses could consider, MMK’s press officer reports. In fact, the meeting was a follow-up on the strategic partnership agreement and a memorandum MMK Chairman Viktor Rashnikov and ALTA’s President Vladimir Plasil signed in Prague on July 15, 2008. According to the memorandum, ALTA is going to become