UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 26, 2018. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s Customer Care Team won the second prize in Crystal Headset Contest as the Best Feedback & Complaints Team. Crystal Headset is an established contact center and customer care center contest. The judges’ panel had to assess nearly three hundred companies in 2017/2018, which proved a record-setting number in the history of the event. The contesting companies operate in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan; they all submitted their applications and essays for consideration,’ the bank’s

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, March 26, 2018. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) saved roughly RUR 1bn through a number of energy-saving projects last year, MMK Information & PR Department reports. ‘We took steps to improve our energy efficiency on all of the plant’s production sites. Just like in the previous years, the company’s efforts to save more power were multifold. For one, we encouraged the development and launch of energy-saving technologies and appliances. 807 energy-saving ideas got presented and processed and 148 projects got launched as a result in 2017 alone. This saved the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 26, 2018. A passenger transfer control center was set up in Sverdlovsk Region as part of World Cup 2018 preparations; Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s decree to this effect is now available on the official legal information portal. Under the terms of this decree, the new center will be in charge of monitoring passenger vehicles that will transfer spectators, football supporters, and FIFA customer groups from place to place. The center will be run by Sverdlovsk Region’s Deputy Transport Minister Dmitri Brusyanin, with Deputy Head of Yekaterinburg Council Evgeny

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 26, 2018. Yekaterinburg’s Koltsovo Airport (a member of Regional Airports Group) switches to spring/summer flight schedule on March 25, the company press service reports. Flights to over a hundred destinations, including some fifty international ones, are currently operated from Yekaterinburg. These flights are offered by forty-six different air carriers. The new timetable is special in that more flights are now offered in popular directions both within Russia and internationally. There will be more domestic flights bound for the Black Sea resorts, with up to five

UrBC, Moscow March 26, 2018. The Bank of Russia’s Board of Directors brought the regulator’s refinancing rate down by 0.25%, to 7.25% a year, the bank’s website states. The decision was taken due to lowered inflation rate expectations. According to the bank’s forecast, the yearly inflation rate is expected to amount to 3%-4% by the end of 2018 and will fluctuate within 4% range in 2019. ‘Given these trends, the Bank of Russia will keep decreasing the key rate and will fully switch to neutral monetary policy in 2108,’ the website states. The Bank of Russia BOD’s next meeting has been scheduled