‘It’s true that the car prices have gone up since the beginning of this year. For one, a Chevrolet is now 9% to 10% more expensive, Opel makes have gone up by 9%, and Saab cars now cost 8% more. Hummer and Cadillac car prices have remained the same for the time being. I feel this price increase may have to do with the increased custom duties. Then, the price could have been affected by the growing foreign currency exchange rates,’ says Petr Lapin, Ok-Trans (Glazurit Car Center) Sales Manager. According to the official data available, the number of cars sold in Russia in the last quarter of

SKB-Bank recently set up three more ATMs within the region; one new machine is located in Chelyabinsk at 16 Komsomolsky Ave. (Galaxy Entertainment Center), another one in Aramil, Sverdlovsk Region (Zarya Mall at 10 Pervoye Maya St. Then, the third ATM was launched in Volzhskiy, Volgograd Region (Nadezhda department store at the intersection of Lenin St and Fontannaya St. This means SKB-Bank’s ATM network now comprises 340 machines altogether, with 15 of them based in Chelyabinsk Region and 134 based in Sverdlovsk Region. All of these three new ATMs operate 24/7 and offer their users a wide

Yekaterinburg municipal council denied the upcoming introduction of a Bentley representation and show room in town. ‘The opening of a show room has been postponed because of the current financial crisis. In case the trouble isn’t long-lasting, the representation will start operating in Yekaterinburg in 2010 or 2011,’ Deputy Mayor Viktor Konteev’s press officer Ilona Starodubtseva said to an UrBC reporter. Meanwhile, Stuart McCullough, Bentley's Board Member for Sales and Marketing, announced earlier that their office would appear in Yekaterinburg very soon. ‘We keep on breaking onto the

Bank Severnaya Kazna’s (now the asset of Alfa Bank) additional office at 64 Vostochnaya St. closed down in Yekaterinburg. According to the bank’s official statement, the outlet is to welcome its customers for the last time on January 15, 2009.

The value of Bank Severnaya Kazna’s (now the asset of Alfa Bank) assets has gone down by 14.3%. The bank itself was acquired by Alfa Bank in December 2008. The bank’s assets were estimated at 50,065,192,000 RUR on December 1, 2008 and at 50,922,245,000 RUR on October 1, 2008. This means the figure dropped by 6,427,357,000 RUR, or 12.8% in absolute figures and by 7,284,410,000 RUR, or 14.3% percentage-wise. The bank reports the decrease in the asset value has been brought about by the shrinking lending portfolio and selling their securities.