Rus-Bank-Ural had the first sign plate bearing the new name of Rus-Bank assembled and installed outside its Tatischev subdivision in Yekaterinburg. In the very near future, the interior of the bank’s offices will also be brought in compliance with Rus-Bank’s corporate style. ‘Getting the new sign plate was one of the re-branding campaign’s stages. These plates will replace the old ones in all of Rus-Bank-Ural’s offices very soon,’ the bank’s press officer reports. Ural Treasures Bank (as it then was) started using its new name of Rus-Bank-Ural for all customer agreements, advertisements, and

Alexander Golov, who’s got a PhD in Sciences and some twenty years’ working experience at Norilsk Nickel as well as a position of R&D Director at Gipronickel Institute, was appointed acting General Director of Karabashmed (part of Russian Copper Company). ‘Russian Copper Company invited a unique specialist because Karabashmed is an enterprise quite unique to Russia. This is a totally new type of production facility, and to run it successfully, one needs enormous metallurgical expertise and innovational thinking as well as an ability to accept and understand the new technological

‘AIC Inc. declared $5.36bn worth of losses in the second quarter of 2008, even though the group’s assets exceeded one trillion U.S. dollars over the same period of time. At the moment, the new CEO and BOD Chairman Robert Willumstad is working on the detailed analysis of the group and its business divisions’ performance in order to minimize risks, reduce the pressure exerted on the company’s capital, and reduce outgoings. The findings will be reported to the shareholders and published in the media in the nearest future,’ President of AIG Life Insurance Company Alexander Zaretskiy explained to

The world largest insurer’s stock plummeted by 50% at the opening of business at New York Stock Exchange recently. What is more, AIG’s market capitalization dropped down to $6.6bn. Kommersant reports the downfall was largely caused by the leading rating agencies decreasing AIG Inc.’s credit ratings, which made borrowing much more difficult for the insurer. Kommersant quotes some informed Wall Street Journal sources that report AIG is now trying to get up to $75bn worth of loans to go through with its liabilities and might actually file a petition for bankruptcy in case everything fails. The

A steel-smelting converter is now being restored at Nizhniy Tagil Iron & Steel Works (part of Evraz Group) LD plant,’ the PR Department of Ural Corporate Relations Center reports. This is the third out of the company’s four converters; the facility is to be renovated within the framework of a large-scale four-year program on the enterprise’s steel-smelting division’s modernization. The restoration will last sixty-five days, in which the converter, the oxygen-supplying unit, the waste heat boiler, the gas-cleaning facility, the power and electricity supply systems and the mechanical

‘Our company hasn’t ever used any of Uralsib’s mortgage offers and is not using them at the moment,’ director of Arbat Oxana Puts said to UrBC. She explained this had to do with the fact that their customers were not really interested in this company’s offers. ‘Our customers often come with a specific mortgage scheme in mind, but no one has mentioned Uralsib yet,’ she added. Ural Chamber of Real Estate reports Yekaterinburg’s real estate market is currently stagnating: the new and existing homes’ prices are not going down, while the number of purchasing transactions is on the decrease. At the

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Bank Uralfinance to sole traders for 181 days to 1 year dropped by 23.64% (from 6.269 million RUR to 4.787 million RUR) in January-August 2008.

Utrade.ru, the broking firm, banned all marginal loans on September 16, 2008. This means the broker will no longer buy securities for the customers on credit. The company’s official explanation is that the decision was brought about by the Russian stock market’s liquidity crisis.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of private individuals’ deposits and other investments in UralFinPromBank valid for 91 to 180 days went down by 37.92% (from 61.116 million RUR to 37.939 million RUR) in January-August 2008.

MegaFon recently acquired Incore, an RBT provider. To make the transaction possible, all of Incore’s non-RBT assets had to be united within a newly created IncoreMedia, whereupon MegaFon was able to buy Incore. MegaFon’s Non-Core Asset Management Director Anton Belenets is also going to be Incore’s new GD. Incore is expected to develop and improve the Ring Back Tone services, MegaFon’s press officer reports. ‘RBT enjoys increasing demand on the Russian market, which is why we decided to buy Incore to ensure the more efficient management and development of the service,’ says MegaFon’s Deputy