According to the Central Bank of Russia, the volume of loans given by SberInvestBank to sole traders despite overdraft account went down 100% (from 1.622 million RUR to zero) in January-March 2007.

Sverdlovsk Region transferred additional 1,218.3 million RUR worth of taxes to the budget and state non-budgetary funds in January-March 2007; this included 822.7 million RUR worth of sanctions and fines (excluding the fines imposed for delays in payment) and 232.8 million RUR withdrawn after a number of inspections. As regards the year 2006, additional payments amounted to 19.1% of all the taxes paid by the region, with the average sum per one inspected taxpayer coming to 18,900 RUR. These additional payments included insurance fees (49.8%), sanctions (10.8%), fines (6.7%), and fines imposed

The spokesperson for Civil Defense and Fire Safety Administration of Sverdlovsk Region reports that the region is expected to experience 11 to 13 man-caused emergencies this month, including seven to nine fires caused by explosions in the living quarters and industrial facilities because of failing to comply with the furnace heating requirements; some fires will probably be brought about by the misuse of gas-cylinders and violation of fire safety regulations at production sites. The estimated number of fires actually comes to only 50% of those recorded in April but is at the same time

Ural Bank of Sberbank of Russia introduced new annual interest rates on a number of loans to natural persons on May 1, 2007. The Housing loan and the Young Family loan are now available at the minimum of 10.75% a year if you use rubles and at the minimum of 11.25% a year if you pay in dollars or euros. The figures used to come to 11.8% and 12.3%, respectively. The loans are provided for a term of five to thirty years now against the previous 20-year upper limit, with the actual interest rate depending on the period of a loan, the scale of the first installment, and the time the dwelling has

A Foreign Investments Committee was set up in Chelyabinsk Region to promote more intense investments within the area; the committee will have to look into the ways of attracting more foreign capital and is expected to come up with proposals for helping local companies find external investors and build up ties with international investment and financial institutions. The committee is made up of representatives of both executive and legislative powers of Chelyabinsk Region, heads of scientific research bodies, and some foreign and domestic investment companies’ executives such as Minister for

‘Russian business tends to evolve very quickly, whereas legal proceedings can take at least six months to complete, and it is not at all improbable for a business involved in a suit to close down before the case is resolved,’ lawyer Ivan Kadochnikov said to UrBC. ‘At the same time, intermediate courts (which are both cheaper and faster than the conventional ones) are not quite so popular since they are often associated with hostile takeovers and require more paperwork. This is why I tend to think that mediation can become a promising business in Russia, as the two parties will be able to

According to SKB-Bank’s trader Alexander Sterkhov, Russian stock market appears to be waiting for the end of the May recess and for the U.S. Federal Reserve System meeting. ‘The week in-between the holidays (Labor Day on May 1 and V-Day on May 9) is traditionally not very impressive as far as the turnovers are concerned. This year was no exception; most investors are waiting to hear from the U.S. before taking any crucial decisions, so RTS index amounted to 1,926 points at the close of business on May 3, 2007 (which means it went down 1.75% within a week), MICEX index came to 3,362.2 points

Concern Kalina has recently published a report on its financial success in the first quarter of 2007. The company’s sales and gross profits amounted to 1,978,800,000 RUR and 1,062,900,000 RUR, respectively, with net profit going down 32.5% against January-March 2006: the figure only reached 144,559 million RUR (against 214,072 million a year earlier). ‘This drop in profits can be largely explained by previous expenses (150.6 million) that have only been accounted for this year due to a number of technicalities in Russian accounting standards; as for reports drawn up in compliance with the

Uralmashzavod signed a 300-million-ruble agreement with SeverStal, promising to provide them with two 500-ton pouring cranes in April and May 2008. All the design and planning is to be performed by Moscow-based VNIIPTMASH and Uralmashzavod’s R&D department. These will be AC variable frequency cranes (which means they are not too heavy and cheaper to maintain) meant for operating in SeverStal’s steel plant, that is, for filling converters with liquid metal. Uralmashzavod has already made Russia’s most powerful 520-ton pouring crane, two blast-furnace jackets, a modern continuous-casting

Ural Airlines is holding its final summer flights sale. You can get tickets for flights bound to Sochi, Krasnodar, and Anapa (all in the south of Russia) for only 4,999 RUR (including the fuel fee) if you book before May 31, 2007. All flights will be performed between June 1, 2007 and August 31, 2007. More information is available via the company’s help and information phone services or the corporate website.

Officers of Koltsovo airport (Yekaterinburg) disclosed an instance of illegal use of registered trademarks while handling a large shipment of footwear imported from the United Arab Emirates, says the spokesperson for Ural Customs Administration. 500 pairs of Adidas, Nike, and Reebok sneakers turned out to be some Chinese fakes. The firm that the sneakers belonged to was unable to produce the obligatory licensing agreements, which means their goods were not authentic. As it is illegal to sell counterfeited produce in Russia, the trademark offender will have to undergo two administrative

The Fifth Power Generation Company’ (OGK-5) has recently published a report on its financial success in the first quarter of 2007. The company’s revenues amounted to 8,141,082,000 RUR (compared with 4,742,362,000 RUR in January-March 2006), its gross profits and profits on sales reached 1,085,641,000 RUR and 969,329,000 RUR, respectively, with expenses outstripping the profits by 617,027,000 RUR. OGK-5’s profit tax and other payments came to 301,146,000 RUR in the first quarter of 2007. The company’s net profit amounted to 51,156,000 RUR, which falls short of the figures for January-March

Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government and Minister of Agriculture and Food Sergey Chemesov organized a press conference on May 3, 2007 to brief the reporters on the seasonal activities. According to the spokesperson for the Ministry, the regional government has been paying special attention to providing farmers and workers with enough equipment for the sowing season. 248.8 million RUR have already been allocated from the federal budget, which is 2.5 times better than a year earlier, so people can use the additional 165 tractors and 214 tillage machines this spring. The whole process is

Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for Economics and Labor published its report on the competitiveness of regional municipalities in 2006. The Ministry’s analysts say those were some truly successful areas that won in most categories. The municipality of Yekaterinburg was ranked first (compared with the second position in 2005), Verknyaya Pyshma was rated second (compared with the first position in 2005); Sukhoi Log was promoted from the seventh to the third position, Pervouralsk was demoted from the third to the fourth position, Nizhniy Tagil retained its fifth position. The Ministry reports the

Bank24.ru joined the Association of Regional Banks of Russia (Association ‘Russia’) after the latter agreed to accept the company and provided it with a membership certificate (No. 419). ‘Professional unions of bankers are the crucial foundation for rapid and stable development of a country’s financial and crediting institutions. Any bank depends on its counterparts as well as on the functionality of the entire system. Bank guilds help to make this unwritten interdependency law work and promote the establishment of a win-win working environment,’ says Bank24.ru’s BOD Chairman Boris Dyakonov.

A new contactless way of making payments (the transaction is performed by dint of RF channels rather than magnetic scanning) has come to be known as VISA payWave. ‘The brand will probably be quite popular with VISA’s English-speaking customers since the name clearly reflects the method and the convenience of such payments: a payment which is made at a wave of a hand. A card holder only needs to wave their Visa card in front of a secure reader (much in the manner of a magnetic key) and the transaction is done,’ SKB-Bank’s Card Director Evgeniy Belichenko says. PayWave is a great addition to or

The State Duma is about to consider a bill on mediation, a kind of activity quite new to the country that poses a number of challenges Russian mediators will probably have to face. One issue has to do with the lawyers’ community attempt to monopolize the yet fledgling but a very promising market. A great many experts, however, are positive a mediator needs to be a good psychologist with a good deal of experience in the humanities rather than a legal expert, for his or her task is to facilitate the out-of-court settlement of a dispute that satisfies both parties’ interests. This is equally

URSA Bank’s Barnaul-based subsidiary participated in the 12th international fair devoted to construction, improvement, and interior design. The fair took place in Barnaul, Russia, on April 24-27, 2007. The event was supported by Siberian Builders Union, Altai Region Union of Builders and Investors, and the city council. 430 enterprises and organizations from 46 Russian cities based in 31 different regions as well as Ukrainian, Kazakh, and Polish companies, exhibited their projects altogether, with over 9,000 people coming to see them. URSA Bank contributed to the fair by organizing a seminar

Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region found the educational department of Nizhniy Tagil guilty of a breach of the federal law regarding placement of orders for the supply of goods and services for state and municipal needs and ordered the department to get rid of the violations. The case was brought about by a complaint from Parad Company that claimed the department had violated the competition law while placing its orders for the acquisition of a number of software programs meant for schools and colleges in 2007. The inquiry handled by Federal Antimonopoly Service revealed that

‘I agree with many experts, that is, I believe that petrol prices will go up to 20 RUR per litre at the most after the oil export duty is going to be raised this June. I don’t think fuel is going to get any more expensive than this,’ Director of Institute of Economics of the Ural branch of RAS Alexander Tatarkin said to UrBC. ‘All in all, the decision to raise oil export duty appears to be ungrounded. Some authorities just take the decisions that suit their needs without bothering to make it clear to people why these decisions have actually been taken,’ he noted. Beginning from June 1, 2007,