SKB-Bank is about to introduce its Elite-Banks (that is, VIP customer service offices) in Chelyabinsk and Perm. The Chelyabinsk one will be housed in Chelyabinsk branch’s Perviy office at 30 Lenin St, while the one in Perm is to be located in Perm branch’s Sadoviy office at 9 Uinskaya St. SKB-Bank’s first Elite-Bank office was set up in the company’s headquarters in Yekaterinburg and welcomed its first customers on April 9, 2007. So far, over one-tenth of the bank’s private individuals’ investment portfolio has been collected through Elite-Bank already. SKB-Bank’s Deposit Director Denis

Russian Federation President Dmitriy Medvedev has recently signed decrees appointing his new plenipotentiary representatives in the country’s federal districts. Vladimir Ustinov was appointed Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in South Federal District, Grigory Rapota was appointed Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Privolzhskiy Federal District, Ilya Klebanov was appointed Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in North-Western Federal District, Georgiy Poltavchenko was appointed Plenipotentiary Representative

Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Viktor Koksharov met the People’s Republic of China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Yang Jiechi at Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg on May 14, 2008. Viktor Koksharov welcomed the Chinese delegation and said he hoped the officials would have a good and fruitful time in the hospitable Urals.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of sole traders’ deposits and other investments in VUZ Bank valid for 91 to 180 days went down by 45.08% (from 139.374 million RUR to 76.537 million RUR) in January-April 2008.

Nakhimov Plaza, the trade and office center at 9 Vainer St. in Yekaterinburg is still being put up rather slowly. Aston Group has claimed earlier that the building would be finished in the summer of 2008; however, even the outer walls haven’t been fully finished yet. A billboard located next to the construction site reports the building was to have been commissioned as early as the last quarter of 2007. Aston Group acts as the broker for the building and, according to Chairman Vyacheslav Trapesnikov, all the delays have been caused by the limited area of the construction site. At the same

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by SberInvestBank to sole traders despite overdraft went down by 47% (from 1.5 million RUR to 805,000 RUR) in January-April 2008.

URSA Bank’s assets (calculated in accordance with the Russian Accounting Standards) came to $7.5bn, which is 1.5 times better than a year earlier. The bank’s own funds doubled and reached $1.29bn in the meantime. URSA Bank’s profit amounted to $65.2m in the first quarter of 2008, which is 2.7 times better than in January-March 2007. The bank’s net loan portfolio reached $5.8bn in April 2008, which exceeds the figures for last April by 1.7 times. As for the bad debt, its share came to 4.1% of the total loan portfolio volume on April 1, 2008, while the bank’s reserves fully make up for the

‘Most unit investment trusts did not do very well in the first quarter of the year and actually showed some negative dynamics. This was the case of CIT Fortis Investment and Maxwell, for instance,’ Unicom Partner’s Deputy Corporate Marketing Director Dmitriy Emerov said to UrBC. In the meantime, Unicom Partner has recently announced that its contracts with CIT Fortis Investment and Maxwell management companies were cancelled. ‘Unicom Partner intends to focus on trust management and banking services for the time being. However, we might resume our cooperation with the unit investment trusts

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 181 days to 1 year dropped by 100% (from 12 million RUR to zero) in January-April 2008.

Owing to a large amount of papers the applicants have to prepare in order to apply for the development of Udokanskoye ore deposit in Chita Region (as the deposit is quite unique in many ways) as well as in order to make sure the tender is as transparent as it can be, the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment decided to prolong the application deadline by 30 days. The original deadline was May 14, 2008. The Ministry hasn’t received any applications yet, their press officer reports. Udokanskoye deposit’s capacity has been estimated at 187,000 tons of ore a year, which will

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by UralTransBank to natural persons for 31 to 90 days went down by 75.15% (from 2.105 million RUR to 523,000 RUR) in January-April 2008.

Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation has recently signed a contract with Ahangarancement, the cement works located in Ahagaran, Uzbekistan. The contract is related to the delivery of two mill frames. The total weight of the machinery has been estimated at 100 tons, the spokesperson for the corporation said to UrBC. The first frame is to be delivered in December 2008, the second one – in February 2009. The spokesperson for the corporation reports this is the company’s first contract with an enterprise located in the CIS. Uralmash will probably sign another contract with Uzbek Kuvasaicement in

Moscow, 14 May 2008 - UC RUSAL, the worlds largest aluminium and alumina producer, is pleased to announce its plans to complete the main construction phase and purchase production equipment for the Taishet Aluminium Smelter in 2008. Total investment will exceed USD 700 million this year. The smelters first metal is scheduled to be produced at the end of 2009. 60% of the investment this year will support building and assembling works at the smelter. The remainder will be used to purchase the required equipment. At present, 70% of the contracts for supplying production equipment have been

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works’ ore mining and processing facilities have been fitted with a new shop meant for processing of metallurgical dross. According to MMK’s PR Department, the new shop was set up in order to recycle the metallurgical waste products and thus implement the enterprise’s medium-term investment program. The shop is located at a former waste deposit in Mount Magnitnaya’s mine. The hot dumps themselves are going to become a part of the new facility. This metallurgical waste is one of MMK’s strategically important objects. The plant’s dross processing shop fully

Starting May 1, 2008, METCOMBANK offers increased interest rates on its Spring/Summer and Simple Solution deposits each Thursday. In addition, any customer who opens or reopens any deposit investing 15,000 RUR or more can choose METCOMBANK’s special present.

The office of Souyz Capital Credit, the consumer cooperative, still cannot be reached over the phone, and the investors are still unable to get any information as to when they are going to get the dividends on their investments again. Some of these investors report off the record that they have invested some money in the cooperative but were unable to get it back when the time came. The investors say their money could have been refused to them due to financial troubles that, in their, turn, had been caused by the recent arrest and temporary freeze of the company’s accounts. Souyz Capital

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UniCreditBank to state-run for-profit organizations for 91 to 180 days went down by 86.6% (from 134.5 million RUR to 18 million RUR) in January-April 2008.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by UralFinPromBank to sole traders for 31 to 90 days plummeted by 93.5% (from 18.18 million RUR to 1.18 million RUR) in January-April 2008.

ChTPZ Complex Pipe Systems (ChTPZ KTS) delivered over forty tons of bent branches to Surgutneftegaz. The produce is meant for the construction of a pipeline in Khanty-Mansiyskiy Autonomous Region, the spokesperson for ChTPZ Group said to UrBC. The goods delivered have undergone ultrasonic testing, X-ray examination, magnetic particle and capillary control, and all the details and parts were subject to in-plant testing, which ensures perfect quality and great maintainability. In addition, the product quality is further supported by the ISO 9001-2001 quality management certificate that covers

Ural Airlines was happy to service the first passengers who’ve used the airline’s special offer that provides for a flight from Yekaterinburg to Saint Petersburg and back and a hotel reservation. ‘My friend and I were going to visit an exhibition in Saint Petersburg. I checked out the carrier’s website to book the tickets and I saw this special offer; I told my friend about it, we thought it over and decided that this was a good offer for us. So we saved both time and money. I have to go on business trips quite often, and having a hotel reservation made alongside with the booking of the