Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UralTransBank to sole traders for up to 30 days dropped by 68.59% (from 63.577 million RUR to 19.969 million RUR) in January-August 2008.

‘We have been getting a lot of complaints about unreliable travel agents. 90% of claims laid against travel agencies are related to service agreement violations or mistakes in these agreements. I feel that once the accreditation procedure becomes obligatory, the number of complaints will go down, while the certificate will prove an agent’s dependability,’ head of Sverdlovsk Region’s division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) Consumer Rights Department Natalya Afanasieva announced in the course of a press conference. ‘To go through with the accreditation, one has to

Aeroflot Russian Airlines canceled the agreement it had signed with Aeroflot Don, its daughter enterprise, and announced the two carriers would no longer operated flights together, the spokesperson for Aeroflot reports. Both airlines started using their own code and flag on September 20, 2008. Besides, D9 745/746 Moscow-Yekaterinburg-Moscow, D9 733/734 Moscow-Yekaterinburg-Moscow, and D9 899/900 Moscow-Chelyabinsk-Moscow flights that were formerly operated by Aeroflot will be operated by Aeroflot Don under D9 code using Aeroflot Don’s B737-500 aircraft from September 20, 2008 till October 25,

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Bank24.r to private individuals for 181 days to 1 year went down by 44.89% (from 27.573 million RUR to 15.195 million RUR) in January-August 2008.

‘Some special asset management centers will be set up in places where there are a lot of industrial enterprises, since it’s very difficult to run a huge corporation from a single center,’ First Deputy GD of Rostechnologii State Corporation Alexei Aleshin announced at a conference devoted to the Mid-Urals’ machine-building industry’s modernization and development in 2008-2020. Alexei Aleshin explained that nineteen holdings would be set up within the defense industry and at least four holdings would be created for the civil industries.

‘Raising the maximum insurance sum on deposits up to 700,000 RUR is a logical and long-awaited step on the way to the deposit insurance system’s further development. In fact, the sum has already been raised several times before,’ SKB-Bank’s Sales Support Director Denis Belogurov said to UrBC. Meanwhile, the state-run Deposit Insurance Agency’s Board of Directors admitted recently that it was possible to increase the amount from 400,000 RUR to 700,000 RUR. ‘People have been keeping increasingly more money on deposits over the last few years, so raising the insurance sum is definitely a timely

‘There are certain criteria to use when deciding on a dwellings’ affordability. If 30% to 40% of the population can afford to buy a place at the existing price, the housing in the country is really affordable. This covers purchases made with the help of mortgages and savings plans, too,’ Ural Chamber of Real Estate’s CEO Rustem Galeev says. ‘Some people keep wondering if those millions of square meters of housing in Yekaterinburg’s future Academic district will enjoy any demand at all. I am convinced that the answer is ‘yes’, as available housing is still a problem in Yekaterinburg. Thousands

‘The state of events on the global financial markets makes it difficult to apply for syndicated loans. The fact that UralTransBank is planning to get one is rather surprising, as small banks don’t have any access to the international capital market at the moment,’ Unicom Partner Investment and Finance Company’s executive Sergey Kaliberda said to an UrBC reporter. UralTransBank’s Chairman Valeriy Zavodov said in the course of several interviews that the bank intended to get a syndicated loan on the international capital market in February or March 2009. Zavodov explained the company was

Mayor of Yekaterinburg Arkadiy Chernetskiy met Auchan’s representatives to look into the chain store’s development strategy in Yekaterinburg and in Russia on the whole. Auchan’s executives said they intended to set up four more hypermarkets in Yekaterinburg and were looking for the remaining two land allotments at the moment. One of them needs to be located next to Chelyabinsk highway, the other one should be found in the city’s east end. The company asked the mayor to help them find the suitable sites.

‘The bank runs two subsidiaries in Yekaterinburg now; they are called Ural and Yekaterinburg, the latter being based on Impexbank’s subsidiary after the bank merged with Raiffeisen Bank in November 2007. The decision to close down this subsidiary has been brought about by our efforts to improve on the bank’s local subsidiary network. In fact, having two subsidiaries of one and the same bank within one city is economically inexpedient; it makes much more sense to have one subsidiary with several offices. This is why Raiffeisen Bank will only have one Ural subsidiary in Yekaterinburg starting