Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ investigative authorities initiated a preliminary criminal lawsuit against one of Oreolcombank’s BOD members. The charge is based on Article 210 of the Russian Federation Criminal Code (setting up an organized crime group). The executive is suspected of embezzling 2 billion RUR from the business’s proprietors and is on the international wanted file at the moment, a representative of the regional law-enforcement agencies explained to Novosti Information Agency. In the meantime, Oreolcombank had its name officially changed to

Bank24.ru (which is no longer operating as an independent entity) keeps proclaiming itself a reliable business. ‘Bank24.ru has one of Sverdlovsk Region’s strongest durability potentials at the moment,’ the bank reports. Nevertheless, the bank was faced with a severe challenge in October 2008: its customers started leaving with their money en masse, so the bank just stopped meeting its liabilities by freezing both the private individuals’ and legal entities’ deposit accounts. As a result, the bank was only able to survive thanks to the state-run Deposit Insurance Agency’s help. What is more,

The Central Bank of Russia reports volume of non-state for-profit organizations’ deposits in Koltso Urala Bank valid for 181 days to 1 year had dropped by 100% (from 2 million RUR to zero) by January 1, 2009.

‘MMK keeps investing in its social benefits packages as usual,’ Chairman of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) trade union committee Alexander Derunov announced at a meeting held by United Russia’s local members and Magnitogorsk Trade Union Association representatives. Derunov explained that the enterprise had decided to prolong their Collective Agreement for 2009; meanwhile, the terms of this agreement are designed so as to protect the workers’ basic social welfare guarantees. As a matter of fact, MMK’s daughter enterprises will probably follow suit. What is more, the company has come

The current economic instability shouldn’t be allowed to affect the social benefits packages guaranteed to the retirees by the state. All of them need to keep getting their pensions in full and on time, Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin said in the course of a meeting with the head of the state retirement fund’s division Viktor Chernobrovin. Chernobrovin said the pensioners had no reason to worry, as all the payments and social benefits would arrive in time. The official explained there were over 900,000 retirees in the region at the moment, including the 300,000 people who kept on

Chelyabinsk Region Government and the Russian Federation Government signed an agreement targeted at solving the labor market’s current problems. The signatories were represented by Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin and Head of the Federal Labor and Employment Service Yuri Gertsiy. The agreement is valid throughout the year 2009 and provides for some financial aid to the unemployment-fighting agencies. The federal government has promised to supply Chelyabinsk Region with 570 million RUR, while the region’s government is to spend 30 million RUR on this. According to the spokesperson for

The Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UralFinPromBank to sole traders for up to thrity days had dropped by 100% (from 6 million RUR to zero) by January 1, 2009.

Bank Severnaya Kazna’s Moscow subsidiary located at 2 Bolshaya Tulskaya St. isn’t going to operate any longer. The office is to welcome its private and business customers for the last time on March 27, 2009, the bank’s official website states.

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court conducted a preliminary hearing of the claim laid by Ural Railway Machine-Building Plant against Uralmash Drilling Machinery (case А60-584/09) on February 17, 2009. The plaintiff insists on the defendant paying the company 38,624 million RUR. The court says this sum is actually the money Uralmash Drilling Machinery owes the plaintiff for product delivery. The main court hearing has been scheduled for March 26, 2009.

‘Despite the Russian economy’s current troubles, Ural Airlines’ development indicators still showed some positive dynamics in January 2009. All in all, most of them have remained at or above last year’s level,’ the airline’s press officer said to an UrBC reporter. In the meantime, the transport clearing chamber reports the overall Russian carriers’ passenger turnover has dropped by 20% this January in comparison with a year earlier. However, Ural Airlines serviced exactly the same number of people last month as in January 2008, that is, 64,800 passengers altogether, including 22,240 people

Moscow’s public prosecution authorities (namely, their Investigative Committee) initiated a criminal lawsuit against Auchan hypermarket chain after it was detected that some poor quality seafood had been on sale in the stores. ‘After the fact of one of Auchan’s divisions selling bad foods had been verified, our investigative authorities took legal action with charge based on Article 237 of the Russian Federation Criminal Code (Manufacturing, storage, and transportation or sale of products or rendering of services that don’t meet the determined safety requirements),’ the authorities report.

Two and a half months after acquiring Bank Severnaya Kazna’s controlling shareholding, Alfa-Bank offered the first loan to Bank Severnaya Kazna’s business customer. Alfa-Bank went through with the controlling shareholding’s purchase on November 30, 2008. The spokesperson for the bank reports the loan (needed to build up on the company’s floating assets) was given to one of Yekaterinburg-based trading firms.

URSA Bank made a total of 3.5 billion RUR worth of interest yield payments to its investors last year; these figures exceeded those for a year earlier (that is, 2.6 billion RUR) by one quarter. The better part of the payments was made in the summer and fall, since the bank’s depositors were apparently interested in saving up for a vacation or an apartment remodeling. ‘Our Magnificent Seven, Special, and Guaranteed Income deposit types were last year’s favorites. The terms of these deposits provide a combination of trouble-free savings and an impressive profit. What is more, a customer can top

Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation still hasn’t been able to cope with the arrears of wages in full. The enterprise’s employees say they only got their wages for December 2008, whereas their January pay is still pending. In addition, the company gave up on its welding engineering sector for the time being, while a number of production shops have been switched to shorter hours. In the meantime, the recent checks completed by the public prosecution authorities revealed that Yekaterinburg-based Uralmashzavod had over 60 million RUR worth of wage arrears, the spokesperson for the Russian

Malakhit Company made the decision to sell a set of restaurants located at 36 Malyshev St. in Yekaterinburg, the company’s press officer said to an UrBC reporter. The set comprises three places: Gradara, Pivnoy Bar’on, and Grand Buffet restaurants and Divan, the night club. ‘This measure is expected to give us some additional resources that will allow the company to keep the rest of the business, including a fast food chain that we run,’ Malakhit’s press officer explained. ‘The economic downfall that started in August 2008 made the lion’s share of our generally loyal customers give up on

Sverdlovsk Region’s division of Rosprirodnadzor (the state environmental watchdog) carried out a scheduled inspection of a foundry based in Kamensk-Uralskiy. Ten environmental violations were detected in the course of the inspection, so the company will now have to pay 150,000 RUR in fines. A 10,000-ruble fine was imposed on the business for violating the water use regulations, a 40,000-ruble one – for violating the open air protection rules, and a 100,000-ruble one – for violating the rules of waste treatment, the spokesperson for the regional division of Rosprirodnadzor says. In addition to

Bank Severnaya Kazna’s additional office located at 39a Pobeda St. in Kamensk-Uralskiy is to stop operating on February 16, 2009. The news has been announced via the bank’s official website.

The investments and savings placed by private individuals in SKB-Bank have recently amounted to more than 15.5 billion RUR (compared with 13.7 billion RUR at the beginning of 2009). ‘Our Patriot deposit type definitely enjoys the greatest demand at the moment, primarily because the annual interest rate is set at 16.01% for the first one hundred days of the deposit period, while the minimum amount of money you must deposit only comes to 10,000 RUR. What is more, all the depositors get a chance to win UAZ Patriot, an off-road vehicle. In fact, over 5.5 billion RUR have been placed with the bank

‘The dramatic plummeting of the bank’s net assets last December was brought about by having to create the additional reserves to make up for the possible bad debt damages, as Bank Severnaya Kazna’s loan portfolio lost some of its strength in the winter of 2008,’ the spokesperson for Alfa-Bank said to an UrBC representative. Bank Severnaya Kazna’s net assets actually dropped by over 7.1 billion RUR (from 43.1 billion RUR to 35.9 billion RUR), or by 16.5% in December 2008. The decrease occurred after the bank had been acquired by Alfa-Bank. The financial data to this extent were published via

Bank24.ru informed its private customers about the availability of loans to them again, ‘anti-crisis loans’ this time. The interest rates come to at least 25% a year, with the loan period coming to anything between three and thirty-six months. The minimum amount of money one can borrow from a bank is 15,000 RUR.