'Last year turned out to be a very difficult one. The global stock markets’ increased volatility couldn’t help affecting the Russian financial system,’ SKB-Bank’s Stock Market Operations Director Alexander Kravtsov announced at the press conference devoted to the state of Russian stock and foreign exchange markets in 2007-2008. 'However, there were some good trends as well. I can’t say I feel too positive about the current state of events, though. The Central Bank has changed its refinancing rate and expects the banks to ask for 400 billion RUR worth of refinancing, which is a lot

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) topped Russia’s best metallurgical enterprises’ rating compiled by the Metallosnabzheniye I Sbyt magazine. The magazine came up with the results of a survey aimed at determining the best Russian producers and traders on the ferrous and non-ferrous metals market in the second half of 2007. The rating was based on the questionnaires filled in by customers and market experts, and on the complex analysis of the enterprises’ activity. The magazine experts report they used criteria like the business development dynamics, shipments volume, the quality of

'Last year was a good one for METCOMBANK,’ the bank’s press officer said to UrBC. The bank’s balance sheet total rose by 68.3% in December 2007 compared to a year earlier and reached 16.2 billion RUR on December 31, 2007, while the bank’s own funds grew by 155.5% and reached 2,022 million RUR on December 31, 2007 against only 791.4 million RUR on December 31, 2006. The volume of customers’ deposits and accounts increased by 49% and amounted to 10.9 billion RUR; this figure includes a 54.8% rise in the volume of private individuals’ deposits (these reached 4.9 billion RUR) and a 45.1%

Uralmashzavod’s quality management system was successfully certified for compliance with the international ISO 9001 requirements (imposed in 2001). The auditing procedure was carried out by the world-famous Bureau Veritas Certification in December 2007, the spokesperson for Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation said to UrBC. Using the company’s quality management system (based on ISO 9001 standards) makes the enterprise more competitive as well as considerably more appealing to customers, who insist on working with companies that have been certified. After all, it is the quality of the

UC RUSAL went through with a number of new appointments: former CEO of Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant Oleg Burkatskiy was appointed CEO of UC RUSAL’s Bogoslovsky Aluminum Plant in Krasnoturinsk, Sverdlovsk Region, while former CEO of Sayanogorskiy Aluminum Plant Evgeniy Zhukov is to succeed Mr. Burkatskiy in Krasnoyarsk. At the same time, former electrolysis production director of Sayanogorskiy Aluminum Plant Evgeniy Nikitin was appointed the new CEO of Sayanogorskiy Aluminum Plant. Mr. Nikitin had been employed in the capacity of the electrolysis production director since February 2006.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Uralprivatbank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations despite overdraft went down by 50.3% (from 100.421 million RUR to 49.907 million RUR) in December 2007-January 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Ural Innovational Commercial Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations despite overdraft went down by 10.37% (from 3.347 million RUR to 3 million RUR) in December 2007-January 2008.

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development has once again proved that its impressive share of the region’s market is well-deserved: according to Interfax-CEA’s rating, the bank is Sverdlovsk Region’s largest and Russia’s 65th largest crediting organization in terms of assets (these came to 38,028.1 million RUR in 2007, which is 44.4% better than the year earlier). 'We feel positive about the bank’s asset growth rate which is better than the market average (although these figures were actually expected). Our achievements prove that we chose both the right development strategy and

Ural Turbine Plant (part of RENOVA Group) is going to participate in Gazprom’s investment program, RENOVA’s press officer reports. 'It’s definitely good that Gazprom decided to centralize all its purchases as well as make its tenders more transparent and efficient. Previously, a great number of intermediaries prevented the suppliers from building long-term partnerships with their customers or planning effectively in terms of expansion or new equipment for Gazprom,’ says the plant’s GD Vladimir Ermolayev. According to GKI-Gazprom’s GD Alexander Karagodov, Gazprom is currently using its

The value of net assets of Energy - Mixed Investments (the unit investment trust) managed by Eurogreen Management Company Ltd. went down by .24% between February 6, 2008 and February 7, 2008. According to Eurogreen’s website, the company’s net assets decreased from 2,994,898.54 RUR on February 6, 2008 to 2,987,600.68 RUR on February 7, 2008.

Neftegasvzryvpromstroy Trust, based in Ufa, looked at its success in 2007. The company’s sales reached 300 million RUR last year, and this figure is expected to rise by at least 120 million RUR in 2008. Neftegasvzryvpromstroy Trust, the open joint-stock company, was set up in 1986 as the Ministry for O&G Construction’s only mobile division meant for drilling-and-blasting operations in the course of constructing transfer pipelines and developing oil and gas deposits. The company has a 10% share of the drilling-and-blasting operations market that has been estimated at some 2 billion RUR a

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank to self-regulatory financial organizations for 181 days to 1 year went down by 40.53% (from 223.927 million RUR to 133.172 million RUR) in December 2007-January 2008.

This year, Nizhniy Tagil Iron & Steel Works (part of Evraz Group) is planning to upgrade all of its production facilities related to large-shapes production in order to enhance production efficiency, minimize stoppages and make the enterprise’s general performance smoother, the spokesperson for Evraz Group said to UrBC. Besides, these timely upgrades are sure to make the company’s heating facilities more reliable, so the heating systems department will hopefully experience no contingencies. Apart from that, the enterprise has nearly completed its chemical water cleaning unit meant for

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UralFinPromBank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for up to 30 days went down by 100% (from 58 million RUR to zero) in December 2007-January 2008.

Chelyabinsk-based AGROPROMPROEKT doubled the volume of its design and exploration work in 2007 compared with 2006, the company’s BOD Chairman Yakov Nevelev said to UrBC. AGROPROMPROEKT was set up in 1958 and has remained one of the strong players on the design and engineering services market ever since. The organization deals in town-planning, reconstruction of buildings, engineering infrastructure design, and technical measurements and examination of existing buildings. AGROPROMPROEKT won a number of medals for settlement layouts, a diploma in the Best Designing Organization category in

Sberbank of Russia’s Ural branch is to introduce the Urals’ first automated safety vault in Yekaterinburg on February 13, 2008. The vault is to be located at Sberbank’s office No.11 at 27 Vosmoye Marta St. The new self-service safe deposit will be available 24/7. One can use a special identification card (provided by the bank when a customer rents an individual vault) to get into the room, whereupon one’s individual vault is delivered into the terminal from the armored storage facility. One can take care of all one’s valuables inside the terminal, and then the vault is automatically

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Bank URALSIB to state-run for-profit organizations for 181 days to 1 year went down by 60% (from 50 million RUR to 20 million RUR) in December 2007-January 2008.

According to the National Managers’ League’s ranking of unit investment trusts as of February 6, 2008, the share price of Raiffeisen Telecommunications (Raiffeisen Capital Management Company) has dropped by 18.90% since the beginning of the year.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 181 days to 1 year went down by 40.53% (from 223.927 million RUR to 133.172 million RUR) in December 2007-January 2008.

The weekly Finance magazine looked into Russia’s mortgage-lending market in 2007 and picked out fifty largest banks (excluding Sberbank) that offered their customers some 170,000 mortgages last year, with the average loan coming to about 2.5 million RUR (figures differ greatly for capital and provincial banks, however). As for Yekaterinburg-based SKB-Bank, the company offered a borrower an average of 1.3 million RUR in the form of mortgages. SKB-Bank was featured in the magazine’s rating of Top 30 Mortgage-Giving Banks; in 2007, the bank built up its mortgage portfolio by 57% against the year