The value of URSA Bank’s assets rose from 138,105,168,000 RUR on January 1, 2007 to 253,825,580,000 RUR on January 1, 2008, thus increasing by 115,720,412,000 RUR, or by 83.8%, over one year.

Severnaya Kazna Insurance Company sold a portion of its shareholding in Bank Severnaya Kazna’s authorized capital, thus decreasing its share from 17.0756% to 13.4745%. This information was published in compliance with the demand that any issuer and/or a joint stock investment fund must promptly reveal any essential information that might influence their stock price.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by UralTransBank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 1 to 3 years went down by 31.47% (from 15.307 million RUR to 10.489 million RUR) in January-December 2007.

‘The holiday standstill experienced by the stock markets recently is over now,’ says SKB-Bank’s Dealing Department Director Anton Khavin. 'The European Central Bank kept the refinancing rate at 4% last week, but it’s not very likely to decrease any further; quite on the contrary, the rate might as well go up to offset the 3% inflation that threatens to harm the region’s economy. In the meantime, the U.S. financial authorities report they might let their rate keep decreasing,’ he notes. 'Data related to Europe’s GDP growth in 2007 are expected to arrive this week, alongside with the

A flight operated by Aviaprad was delayed by five days; Yak-42 coming to Yekaterinburg from Norilsk was supposed to have arrived in Yekaterinburg at 2 PM on January 11, 2008 yet the interactive timetable used in Koltsovo airport first read that Aviaprad’s plane would only land on January 12, 2008 and then that the plane would arrive on January 14, 2008, and then that the arrival was postponed till January 15, 2008. According to the latest updates available, the plane is to be in Yekaterinburg at 1.40 PM on January 16, 2008.

Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant and Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (ChTPZ Group’s largest tube and pipe manufacturers) supplied their consumers with 1,895,000 tons of tubular goods in 2007, which is 10% better than in 2006 when the figure only came to 1,721,000 tons. ChTPZ Group sold 1,049,000 tons of tubes and pipes last year, which exceeds the figures for a year earlier by 9%. These figures include a 16% increase in the amount of large-diameter pipes: it came to 593,400 tons, ChTPZ’s press officer reports. Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant delivered 75,300 tons of tubular goods to consumers in

Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation and the Ukrainian SevGOK signed an agreement regarding the delivery of equipment and the technical data package needed to restore SevGOK’s Lurgi roast machine production line. The contract value is estimated at more than 500 million RUR, Uralmash’s press officer said to UrBC. The roast machine, whose total area comes to 278.25 square meters, was designed by Lurgi, the German manufacturer, and launched at SevGOK in 1975. There were several enterprises interested in restoring the equipment, including the Italian Danieli, yet the customers decided they

Sverdlovsk Communal Systems and Comenergo admitted recently that most of the region’s heating equipment was worn out greatly and would sometimes refuse to operate. According to Sverdlovsk Communal Systems’ GD Vyacheslav Prakin, the civil engineering infrastructure is on the verge of collapse and needs to be gradually upgraded and replaced. The company’s technicians are now making a list of things to do in terms of repairs and replacements and are evaluating the cost of this.

United Company RUSAL underwent all the testing procedures successfully and was given OHSAS 18001, the international certificate that proves the company’s health and safety management system’s compliance with the international regulations, UC RUSAL’s press officer said to UrBC. The certificate was issued by the Norwegian Det Norske Veritas (DNV). UC RUSAL believes getting this certificate can be seen as the final step in their integrated management system program. The system now meets all of the ISO 9001, ISO/TS 16949, ISO 14001, and OHSAS 18001 requirements and is applied in the enterprise’s

The value of Bank Uralsib’s net assets dropped by 109 billion RUR, or 18%, between January 1, 2007 and January 1, 2008 and reached 600 billion RUR on January 1, 2008. This information was published in compliance with the demand that any issuer and/or a joint stock investment fund must promptly reveal any essential information that might influence their stock price.

Kachkanarskiy Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise (aka Vanadium, part of Evraz Group) completed its three-year environmental project. As a result, the company’s agglomeration facilities have been fitted with gas purifying units, the spokesperson for Evraz Group said to UrBC. The company’s agglomeration plant received a modern electric precipitator capable of cleaning up to 1 million cubic meters of exit gas an hour. Its powerful electrodes can trap 3,400 tons of iron-ore concentrate dust a year. It took the enterprise six months to complete the installation of the precipitator. All the

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Plato Bank to natural persons for 1 to 3 years went down by 84.86% (from 2.821 million RUR to 427,000 RUR) in January-December 2007.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by SberInvestBank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 31 to 90 days dropped by 26.67% (from 75 million RUR to 55 million RUR) in January-December 2007.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Universal Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 181 days to 1 year went down by 64.56% (from 22.65 million RUR to 8.028 million RUR) in January-December 2007.

Mayor of Yekaterinburg Arkadiy Chernetskiy is going to run for the position again and has already provided the election committee with all the papers needed to apply for the election process. The committee might take the decision as soon as the evening of January 15, 2008. Mr. Chernetskiy’s candidacy was proposed in the course of United Russia’s regional meeting.

Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation managed to nearly triple its production output of cement machinery in 2007 compared to the year before. Uralmash’s key cement buyers are Mordovcement, Sebryakovcement, Eurocement Group, and Sibirskiy Cement, the company’s press officer said to UrBC. This year, the corporation is planning to increase its cement machinery output even further through cooperating with foreign enterprises. In November 2007, the company signed a contract for the delivery of a furnace body with KHD Humboldt Engineering, one of the world’s leading engineers and suppliers of

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Pervouralsk Joint Stock Commercial Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for over 3 years dropped by 35.25% (from 8 million RUR to 5.18 million RUR) in January-December 2007.

Ural Treasures Bank has just come up with another New Year offer, known as Lucky Days, on one of its deposits, the bank’s press officer reports. The bank’s customers can open the Christmas Season deposit using 15,000 RUR, $500, or Ï500 and get the interest rate of 13.5%, 9%, or 8% a year respectively between January 29, 2008 and February 2, 2008.

Rostransnadzor (the federal transport watchdog) carried out over 225,000 inspections that resulted in detection of more than 350,000 violations of Russian law and international agreements, nullification of 248 licenses and certificates, and temporary cancellation of 401 licenses and certificates. 21,000 legal entities will have to face lawsuits, and 33, 000 officials have already had to deal with administrative liability. For one, Rostransnadzor is reportedly planning to put a temporary ban on the activity of Sky Express, the Russian discounter airline, for its alleged grave violations of the

The new law on identification requirements for people who make bank payments came into effect on January 15, 2008. 'The Federal Law 275 that makes it obligatory for banks to supply some information on the payment-makers is not going to affect the banks’ performance or create difficulties for their customers,’ says SKB-Bank’s Commission-based Services Director Lyudmila Belyaeva. 'To start with, banks are already using a certain amount of personal data for processing payments, when they handle money orders, for instance. So, most banks’ customers are already used to having their