MDM-Bank and URSA Bank announced recently that their stockholders decided to put their shares together in order to set up a banking holding and thus one of Russia’s leading universal banks. ‘Following the merger, the new bank, with its 72-billion-ruble capital and 523 billion RUR worth of assets is to become one of the country’s major banks. This merger of two strong and reputable banks results from in-depth strategic analysis and is bound to be mutually beneficial. In fact, the new bank will be able to take advantage of over 500 offices located in all of the country’s federal districts,’

Sverdlovsk Region’s Arbitration Court prohibited any transactions UIT Uralstroy might want to carry out regarding the debatable land allotment in Kosmonavtov St. and Voikov St. in Yekaterinburg. The claim to this extent was laid by the region’s public prosecution authorities which insist that the renting agreement was invalid and prohibited any state registration of property rights over the estate located in the above-mentioned area. The court considered the prosecution authorities’ argument as to the fact that an attempt to register one’s property rights might be made in the course of the

Probusinessbank is the most likely customer of Bank24.ru’s controlling shareholding at the moment, Novosti Advertising & Information Agency claims. ‘The agreement might be signed as soon as this week,’ the agency says referring to their source (someone in the know of negotiations’ proceedings). Bank24.ru has been experiencing liquidity problems lately and even had to stop all external payments last week until an investor could be found. In November 2008, Bank24.ru applied for financial aid from the Central Bank of Russia and the Deposit Insurance Agency. Quite recently, the bank had to

Eurogreen Investment & Finance Company and Saxo Bank are going to hold a videoconference in Yekaterinburg on December 4, 2008. The agenda of the conference covers issues related to working with Saxo Trader platform. Saxo Trader is a globally recognized trading platform for shares, futures, CFDs, various types of currency and currency options at Europe, America, and Japan’s major exchanges. The videoconference starts at 7PM in Eurogreen’s office at 39 Gorkiy St. To apply, call +7(343) 3-101-104 or send your application at tarlinskaya@eurogreen.ru.

‘Bank Severnaya Kazna is now a part of Alfa Bank. In fact, we have never excluded the opportunity of business expansion through acquiring provincial banks,’ Alfa Bank’s Chairman Rushan Khvesyuk announced at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. ‘We are not going to disclose the sum of the transaction. The thing is, we’ve bought enough shares to be able to make decisions, that is, over 75%,’ he said. ‘The quantity and the quality of the bank’s assets were the important factors that motivated us to go through with the transaction. We were satisfied with the quality of the bank’s business and