'The Service has gathered data on the existing agreements between banks and insurers in order to detect instances of violating the antimonopoly legislation. Our division received two cases to work on; these involve UralTransBank and Bank Severnaya Kazna. Both of them are now being processed,’ Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region division of Federal Antimonopoly Service Sergey Volkov said to UrBC. 'We found the agreement signed by UralTransBank and Military Insurance Company particularly interesting, as the paper says nothing about the tariffs, let alone the fact that they are bound to

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Tagilbank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 91 to 180 days went down by 90.54% (from 4.788 million RUR to 453,000 RUR) in January-October 2007.

Federal Antimonopoly Service maintains that Home Credit and Finance Bank Ltd’s advertisements violate the Federal Advertising Act. The Service claims that some of the bank’s printed media ads (Start without a Commission, Voyage Credit, Credit 10-10-10 Variant, and Mobile Ten) give incomplete information on the loan terms. While they do indicate what the upper and lower limits on the interest rates are and that there exists an incidental commission for opening up a bank account, nothing is said about the other terms that actually determine how much a borrower would have to pay at the end of

The spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region Railways Tatiana Makagonova reports the company has found out about the upcoming engine house employees’ strike, thinks it illegitimate, and is not going to take any action. The workers’ trade union demands that Russian Railways Public Company should raise the minimum wage, introduce extra pay for having to work in the health-deteriorating environment, flexi time, remuneration to long-time employees, and getting the trade union representatives on the commissions responsible for signing the Collective Agreement. The strike is to be supported by the

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Uralfinance Bank to natural persons for 91 to 180 days went down by 99.66% (from 10.37 million RUR to 35,000 RUR) in January-October 2007.

The Bank of Russia came up with data on bank card transactions performed in different Russian regions in the third quarter of 2007. Moscow and Moscow Region, with their 44.8 million cardholders, and Saint Petersburg, with its 4.6 million cardholders, were traditionally the most developed parts of the country in this respect, while Sverdlovsk Region was given the fourth position. There were over 3 million registered cardholders there on October 1, 2007. SKB-Bank reports the region’s dwellers performed 19.2 million bank card transactions worth 72 million RUR in July-September 2007. Actually,

'The price of a product should depend on the quality of the strong drink rather than on the type of bottle and packaging used. Khortytsa sees its products’ outstanding quality as the company’s utmost priority, so the statistical data we have are hardly surprising: anyone who’s tried our drink at least once will stay loyal to the brand forever. We are already supplying alcohol to seventy-seven different countries, which means we’ve managed to win our customers over as well as convince them that our vodka is a great quality product,’ Khortytsa’s Marketing Director Sergey Velichko says. In

Ural Airlines was able to keep its Yekaterinburg-Irkutsk flight in its winter timetable. The flight is operated twice a week (Tuesdays and Sundays) using a modern comfortable A 320 plane. Each Tuesday and Sunday, the plane leaves for Irkutsk at 5.05 AM and 2.25 AM respectively. Every Wednesday and Sunday, the plane takes off in Irkutsk at 12.35 AM and 10.05 PM respectively. 'A 320 is the most suitable type of airplane for this destination: it’s very fuel efficient, which is why we can still afford to use it in the winter even though the passenger traffic is on the decrease,’ says Ural

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UralFinPromBank to sole traders for 31 to 90 days went down by 21.33% (from 1.5 million RUR to 1.18 million RUR) in January-October 2007.

Olips, one of Yekaterinburg’s major developers, is going to present its projects at MAPIC commercial estate exhibition in Cannes on November 14-16, 2007. Olips’s presentation will be made within the framework of the Russian Trade Center Union’s exhibition project and is to cover the company’s four current projects: the Dirigible Mall, Parkoviy Trade and Entertainment Center, Magnet Trade and Entertainment Center, and Fashion Gallery. MAPIC is one of the world’s most respectable commercial estate exhibitions. ‘Apart from giving one a chance to be in the know of all the news in the field and

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by UralPrivatBank to sole traders for 91 to 180 days went down by 100% (from 75,000 RUR to zero) in January-October 2007.

Engine-house employees from Sverdlovsk-Passagirskiy, Perm-2, Perm-Sortirovochnaya, and Vologda depots decided to join in the Russian Railways Public Company’s personnel strike scheduled by their trade union for the end of November 2007. The decision was taken at the trade union meeting after the company refused to meet the union’s demands.

Sverdlovsk Region’s division of Federal Antimonopoly Service claims that Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg, RusAviaJet Ltd., Ural Oil Company, and Aviaprad have been violating the Federal Competition Protection Act, the regional spokesperson for the Service reports. The Service found out the four businesses had apparently colluded in such a way that could lead to unjustifiably differing prices determined for one and the same kind of product. Then, Koltsovo airport is reported to be pursuing a pricing policy that could limit or even completely eliminate the market competition and infringe on

Sverdlovsk Region’s division of Federal Antimonopoly Service keeps collecting evidence for the upcoming court hearing of UralTransBank and Bank Severnaya Kazna’s case; the two companies are accused of violating the antimonopoly legislation. 'Our division is now busy piecing together all the customers’ complaints about overpriced insurance tariffs these banks imposed on their loans,’ Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region’s division of Federal Antimonopoly Service Sergei Volkov said to UrBC. The Service claimed UralTransBank and Bank Severnaya Kazna violated the Federal Competition Protection

The awarding ceremony of the first All-Russian Person of The Year in Metallurgy and Metal Trading 2007 competition took place in Moscow. The contest is largely targeted at making the achievements of metallurgical enterprises better known to the general public. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Chairman Viktor Rashnikov won in the Business Reputation category, MMK’s press officer reports. The award was given to him to signify his great contribution to the development of Russia’s largest metallurgical enterprise. With Mr. Rashnikov in management, the company was able to double its metal

According to a rating compiled by the Delovoy Kvartal magazine, SKB-Bank proved to be one of Sverdlovsk Region’s banks with the greatest number of offices and subsidiaries throughout Russia: the bank is reported to have set up eighty-two offices (nineteen of which are located in Yekaterinburg, thirty-one in Sverdlovsk Region, thirteen in Ural Federal District, and nineteen in other parts of the country) by November 1, 2007. Apart from that, SKB-Bank is the region’s most dynamically expanding bank with the greatest number of subsidiaries introduced in January-October 2007. Moreover, SKB-Bank

Whether Absolut is going to be sold by auction has not been settled yet; however, a few companies have already placed their bids, and Khortytsa, a major Ukrainian strong drinks producer, was one of those. Vadim Drobiz, the spokesperson for the Union of Strong Drink Market Players, says the tender might never take place after all. ‘The global liquor market is experiencing a huge vodka boom at the moment, and this boom is likely to last for a decade or so, which means the price Absolut can be bought at now ($5.5bn) is going to rise by $1bn a year on average. So the brand is bound to cost much

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by TyumenEnergoBank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 31 to 90 days went down by 85.63% (from 567.03 million RUR to 81.506 million RUR) in January-October 2007.

ChTPZ-Complex Pipe Systems had its Transcert certificate (level 2) renewed. The certificate is part of the facultative certification system and was given to the company in 2006 by the National Institute of Transport Standardization, Expertise and Certification. In fact, these certificates had earlier been given to all the member enterprises of ChTPZ-Complex Pipe Systems: to a pipe plant in Chelyabinsk, MSA a.s. based in the Czech Republic, and an enterprise located in Magnitogorsk. Having this certificate as a proof of the quality of services rendered by Russia’s major oil transportation

Olips, a developer from Yekaterinburg responsible for the Dirigible Mall project, is about to start making the design and concept of the mall (developed by Cushman&Wakefield Stiles&Riabokobylko) a reality. Firstly, the company needs to put up an extension to the existing mall: a three-storey building with the total area of 48,740 square meters with a gallery that will connect it to the older building. The ground floor will be given to a hypermarket, the other two floors are meant for shops and entertainment. There are going to be 32,000 square meters to rent altogether. In addition,