UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 31, 2019. DeloBank App (SKB-Bank’s new banking service for businesses) topped MarksWebb’s recent rating, the bank’s press service reports. MarksWebb’s analysts looked into mobile apps of seventeen Russian banks that are iOS- and Android-friendly and rated them on the basis of the functions available, efficiency, and user-friendliness (the target users being heads of small enterprises and sole traders),’ the press services says. DeloBank’s mobile app came first both in the rating of iOS- and Android-friendly apps for sole traders and in the rating of iOS- and

UrBC, Moscow, July 31, 2019. Russia’s poverty rate increased from 13.9% to 14.3% in the first quarter of 2019, Rosstat’s recent report indicates. According to Rosstat, 20.9m Russians had incomes below the living wage (RUB 10,753 as set by the Labor Ministry) in early 2019. 14.3% of Russians (20.9m people) had incomes below the living wage in the first quarter of 2019. The calculations were based on the Labor Ministry’s living wage standards for the first quarter of the year (RUB 10,753) and the income assessment techniques adjusted in March 2019. Now in the first quarter of 2018, if an

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 31, 2019. Sverdlovsk Region residents factual disposable incomes (adjusted against the consumer price index) dropped by 0.2% in the first quarter of 2019 compared with one year earlier, Sverdlovskstat reports. People’s nominal incomes amounted to RUB 434.5bn all in all in the first quarter of the year (RUB 33,556 a month per capita). One year previously, the figures were RUB 415.3bn and RUB 32,005, respectively. At the same time, the monthly living wage came to RUB 10,922 per capita in Sverdlovsk Region in the first quarter of 2019 (RUB 11,678 for working-age locals,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 31, 2019. Rosatom’s/Rosenergoatom’s Beloyarskaya Nuclear Power Plant in Zarechny, Sverdlovsk Region, invested RUB 274,807,000 in environmental protection programs last year, the plant’s annual environmental report for 2018 indicates. The presentation of the report took place in Reporters’ Club in Yekaterinburg, with a number of environmental experts, members of the Public Chamber, and reporters working for the area’s leading media all present. Talks were given by experts from the plant’s Environmental Protection Department, Nuclear Safety & Reliability

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 31, 2019. The number of credit card applications the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development received in the last week of July increased that received in the last week of June by 70%, the bank’s press service reports. Thinking outside the box and making the most of life are the principles we live by as a business. While other banks are only starting to extend their CC grace periods to three months, we are revolutionizing the market by offering everyone a credit card and eight months without having to worry about interest payments. This is a total paradigm

UrBC, Moscow, July 30, 2019. 59% of Russians are not prepared to get an electronic passport issued for them, even though as many as 85% are familiar with the idea, TASS refers to the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center’s survey findings as indicating. 22% of respondents don’t feel this type of ID would be reliable another 8% are wary of possible database glitches; 4% of those surveyed feel pessimistic about the e-passport because of the possible data leaks and the risk of losing the passport itself. Finally, 3% of respondents say the ID is not universally suitable for everyone and

UrBC, Moscow, July 30, 2019. People who’ve lost their money/prospective home in a housing building co-operative scheme might get offered apartments in completed or nearly completed buildings instead, RIA Novosti refers to Russia’s Vice Premier Vitaly Mutko as saying. According to Mutko, the government is only starting to think over the mechanisms needed to make this work; a change is the existing legislation is necessary, which could be made possible during the Parliament’s upcoming session in the fall. The proposal would serve as the third possible solution to the problem, in addition to

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, July 30, 2019. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) is currently hosting an experience-sharing workshop for the coke and by-product process department workers from Russia’s metallurgical enterprises, MMK’s Information & PR Department reports. MMK’s Coke & By-Product Process Department is now open to forty-one delegates from nine Russian companies: Severstal, Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK), Altai-Koks, West-Siberian Metal Plant (EVRAZ ZSMK), Nizhny Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ NTMK), Koks, Mechel-Koks, Ural Steel, and Gubakhinskiy Koks. The workshop

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 30, 2019. The Walk of Finance opened in Yekaterinburg’s District Akademichesky on the eve of the Russian Finance Ministry’s 100th anniversary. We planted some willow trees here last fall; the trees are quite small just now, but we hope they’ll eventually grow into a large, beautiful canopy that will protect the walkers from the summer heat. We’d like this to be more than just an alley: this is meant as a landmark and a venue for all sorts of financial literacy events, Vice Governor of Sverdlovsk Region and Sverdlovsk Region Finance Minister Galina Kulachenko said at

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 30, 2019. OOO FORES’s Asbest branch is working to upgrade the plant’s dust-exhaust facilities. According to the company’s press service, the introduction of extra cyclone dust collectors and three sock filters on the rotary drum dryer will make the entire appliance’s performance much more reliable. The addition of a second stage to the de-dusting process and the expansion of filtering facilities helped reduce the filters’ overall workload and provided the necessary reserve. What is more, there’s now considerably less dust at workplaces,’ says Director at OOO FORES’s

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 29, 2019. ChelPipe Group and MetalloInvest held a coordination meeting on the premises of the latter’s member enterprise Ural Steel. The two companies’ managers and experts talked about the pricing policy, the quality, and the delivery terms for the rolled steel ChelPipe Group’s Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant (ChelPipe) needs to make large-diameter pipes, the company’s press service says. Ural Steel is currently one of ChelPipe Group’s strategic sheet metal suppliers. In 2018, the company supplied 270,000,000 kg of metal goods to ChelPipe, with more than 220,000,000

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 29, 2019. OOO FORES intends to direct RUB 100m to job safety and industrial safety projects this year; this is part of the company’s Collective Agreement. Besides, more than RUB 4.6m will get allocated for employee healthcare programs (more than RUB 6m if you account for preliminary checkups and examinations by psychiatrists), the company’s press service reports. Nearly 150 people working for FORES, including 44 employees approaching retirement age, will be able to stay at three local sanatoriums this year. Preretirement-age employees get catered for in accordance

UrBC, Moscow, July 29, 2019. On 26 July 2019, the Bank of Russia Board of Directors decided to cut the key rate by 25 bp to 7.25% per annum. Inflation slowdown is continuing. At the same time, inflation expectations remain elevated. Russian economy’s growth rate is coming in lower than the Bank of Russia’s expectations. Weak economic activity, along with temporary factors, limits inflation risks over the short-term horizon. According to the Bank of Russia’s forecast, taking into account the pursued monetary policy, annual inflation will return to 4% in early 2020,’ the recent press release on

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 29, 2019. There were 612 travel agents in Sverdlovsk Region last year, including 35 companies also acting as tour operators (5.7%) and 6 companies acting solely as tour operators (1%), Sverdlovskstat reports. 170,700 package tours got sold to Sverdlovsk Region-based customers in 2018 (total value: RUB 13.8bn), which was 11.1% less than one year previously. The mean price of a package tour came to RUB 80,700 (up 11% against the year 2017). Russian nationals purchased 117,100 international tours from the local agents last year (compared with 139,200 tours in 2017);

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, July 29, 2019. Chelyabinsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service is currently looking into a complaint placed by a local resident regarding the growing retail bread and pastry prices on offer at Pyaterochka and Magnit supermarket chains, the division’s press service reports. Now the prices are rising for the bread made by AO Pervy Khlebokombinat, which holds a 50% share of Chelyabinsk Region’s wholesale bread market. According to the information the FAS’s Chelyabinsk Region division obtained in December 2018, the manufacturer was going to increase its

UrBC, Moscow, July 26, 2019. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the Executive Order On Cancelling Certain Special Economic Measures Against the Turkish Republic; the order is now available at pravo.gov.ru. Under the terms of the order, the agreement on the Russian and Turkish nationals’ travel to and from the two countries which Russian Federation Government and the Turkish Republic Government signed on May 12, 2010 partially comes into effect again. The agreement was halted on January 1, 2016 in terms of how freely Turkish nationals with regular travel passports could come to Russia;

UrBC, Moscow, July 26, 2019. Businesses are not happy with the commission fees Russia’s Central Bank intends to charge for its express payment system transactions (0.2% to 0.7% of the transaction amount). This means large retail companies might refuse to join the Central Bank’s network, Vedomosti refers to the Retail Traders Association's (ACORT) and the Online Traders Association's (AKIT) letter to Head of Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina as stating. Retail traders expect the express payment system (which allows retail customers to pay by scanning a QR code with their smartphone

UrBC, Moscow, July 26, 2019. MegaFon comes up with ever more cyber threat protection solutions and has recently launched its Database Protection Service. According to the telecom company’s press service, MegaFon’s cyber-security solutions are aimed at a variety of customers, smartphone owners as well as large companies with extensive digital communication networks. The new database protection solution is based on Garda BD. The software prevents security leakage and ensures data protection by automatically blocking any attempt to access the database spreadsheets without proper authorization.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 26, 2019. OOO FORES’s Sukhoi Log branch intends to invest RUB 2m in a new children’s playground in Fabrika, near Sukhoi Log, the company’s press service reports. The 625-square-meter playground will get set up next to 2A and 4A Energetikov St in Fabrika’s most densely populated district with plenty of apartment buildings, the press service says. According to FORES representatives, the new playground will have sports/play appliances, a merry-go-round, pull-up bars, dodecahedron playground climbers, park benches, a sandbox, and two rocking units. There will be a strip

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 26, 2019. EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ NTMK) automobile department completed its stage of the company’s charity relay race by supporting Kolosok Kindergarten in Novopanshino; the adjustage department is now taking over, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Communications Center reports. It took NTMK workers six months to complete their project at the kindergarten in Novopanshino: they removed the fire-prone flooring on the ground floor of the building, installed six new exit doors, and put up three new gazebos and two sandboxes. The