SKB-Bank’s balance sheet total came to more than 50 billion RUR in June 2008 compared with only 35.8 billion RUR at the beginning of the year. SKB-Bank’s Chairman of the supervisory Board Vladimir Pukhov reports the bank’s funds reached over 5 billion RUR, which is the second best result in Ural Federal District. ‘This means the business can expand and keep reaching new heights. A fifty-billion-ruble balance sheet total is a milestone on our way to becoming this region’s largest bank. Even though the business is now growing rapidly, we are not going to stop where we are and hope to achieve

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of private individuals’ deposits in TagilBank valid for 31 to 90 days dropped by 12.64% (from 36.908 million RUR to 32.24 million RUR) in January-June 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of call loans given by Khanty-Mansiyskiy Bank to private individuals plummeted by 100% (from 3.585 million RUR to zero) in January-June 2008.

‘In August, most travelers head for Turkey and Egypt: you don’t need to worry about your visa when going there, you can use U.S. dollars in both countries, and there are plenty of all-inclusive hotels there. Rhodes is one new destination that has been introduced this year, but since only very few people actually booked their vacations there, the flights were cancelled. In the meantime, soaring jet fuel prices have led to trips to Crete, Italy, and Spain becoming more expensive, which is why these holiday destinations became less popular with customers. In addition, three Turkey-bound flights

Sverdlovsk Region’s foreign trade turnover came to $5.5bn in January-May 2008, which was 24.6% better than in January-May 2007. The figures include $4.1bn worth of exported goods (which was 15% better than a year earlier) and $1.4bn worth of imported goods (which exceeds the figures for January-May 2007 by 63.7%). The region’s large and medium-scale enterprises made 76.8 billion RUR worth of profits in the first five months of 2008, which exceeds the figures for a year earlier by 5.3%, and sustained 5.1 billion RUR worth of losses, which exceeds the figures for January-May 2007 by 63.2%. Thus

‘In Russia, the inflation rate reached 8.7% in the first half of 2008; these growing figures mean the banks have to raise their interest rates on loans, which, in its turn, might affect their lending business badly,’ Ural Treasures Bank’s executive Konstantin Yushkov said to UrBC. Konstantin Yushkov reported banks with access to inexpensive long-term resources that could afford to face a price war were best prepared for the possible problems.

The value of Uralvagonzavod Finance’s assets went down by 17.26%. The enterprise explains this has to do with a decrease in the amount of the company’s long-term liabilities, as they repurchased the second issue of their bonds worth 766.133 million RUR altogether in the second quarter of 2008.

Tyumen Region’s division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service took legal action against LUKoil-Uralnefteprodukt, Gazpromneft-Tyumen, and AZS-N1, accusing them of violating the existing legislation on the protection of competition. The data available from the weekly monitoring of the wholesale and retail oil product prices indicate that the three companies have been using the same retail oil product prices for a long period of time. Tyumen Region’s division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service sees this as a violation of the antimonopoly legislation through illegal price collusion. Article 11 of

Sberbank’s Ural branch processed 430,000 Blitz money orders worth 13.2 billion RUR altogether in the first half of 2008, while the number of money orders made in April-June 2008 exceeded that made in January-March 2008 by 36.5%. Besides, the number of the bank’s subsidiaries in Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Kurgan Regions and Bashkortostan where Blitz money orders are available went up by 93 units and came to 736 bank outlets in June 2008.

The ongoing fall of Mechel’s stocks (presumably brought about by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s unfavorable critique) has already made some of the company’s investors lose money. The share quotations dropped by over 45% and 40% at Russian stock exchanges and at New York Stock Exchange, respectively, on July 25, 2008. The enterprise’s market capitalization decreased by more than 115 billion RUR in just one day. Mechel Group reports about a quarter of their shares can be bought and sold freely, while the rest of the stock belongs to investors, Igor Zyuzin being the major one. Following the

‘The drop of RTS index on Friday cannot be solely explained by the Prime Minister’s unfavorable remarks on Mechel’s pricing policies. I feel the uninspiring statistics (typical of the current state of the global economy in general) had the main part to play. One must realize that the Russian stock market was bound to do badly anyway as long as we still depend on the U.S. market’s success,’ says Eurogreen’s General Director Evgeniy Kostarev. RTS index dropped below 2,000 points on July 25, 2008, coming to 1,994.35 points at 11 AM on Friday morning (Moscow time). Evgeniy Kostarev reports the

‘This was not a good morning for the Russian stock market, as American stock indices kept going down and the oil kept getting cheaper. In addition, the Prime Minister’s unfavorable comments related to Mechel’s primary proprietor were a shot in the eye for the market. These comments led to people selling Mechel’s ADRs and consequently to considerable changes in the whole mining and metallurgical sector,’ FINAM Investment Company’s analyst Denis Kruglov said to UrBC. RTS index dropped below 2,000 points on July 25, 2008, coming to 1,994.35 points on Friday morning. ‘At the moment, Raspadskaya,

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in Bank24.ru valid for 1 to 3 years dropped by 72.01% (from 191.292 million RUR to 53.536 million RUR) in January-June 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in VUZ Bank valid for 91 to 180 days went down by 75% (from 1.2 million RUR to 300,000 RUR) in January-June 2008.

Ural Airlines stated selling e-tickets for all of its international flights that take off in Yekaterinburg via the company’s official website www.uralairlines.com. ‘Before the service became available online, the purchase of e-tickets had to be handled through the booking offices, but now one can book and buy an electronic ticket without even setting foot outside one’s house. This certainly saves you a lot of time,’ the carrier’s press officer reports. Payments can be made with the help of Visa, EuroCard/MasterCard, DINERS CLUB, and JCB cards or using YandexMoney, WebMoney, E-port, or Credit

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank valid for 181 days to 1 year plummeted by 71.42% (from 140 million RUR to 40 million RUR) in January-June 2008.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of private individuals’ deposits and other investments in UralFinPromBank valid for 91 to 180 days dropped by 23.88% (from 61.116 million RUR to 46.519 million RUR) in January-June 2008.

‘The soaring inflation rate is a grave factor on the financial services market. This factor does not create an advantage for some players at the expense of others but manages to modify the market as a whole. This is normally most noticeable when the entire branches (for instance, banks and the food industry) rather than mere banks compete with one another, trying to lure in more customers,’ says the Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s Strategic Development Director Andrei Emelyanov. The executive reports inflation growth and any other market changes affect banks large enough to

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of private individuals’ deposits and other investments in Pervouralsk Joint Stock Commercial Bank valid for 181 days to 1 year went down by 13.87% (from 75.695 million RUR to 65.189 million RUR) in January-June 2008.

Starting August 5, 2008, S7 Airlines (Siberia Airlines) will operate flights from Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg to Adler airport of Sochi, the company’s press officer reports. Starting September 2, 2008, a daily Yekaterinburg-Moscow flight will be introduced by the carrier. The plane will take off in Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg and arrive in Domodedovo airport of Moscow. ‘Until quite recently, Yekaterinburg was Russia’s only city with the population of over a million people that did not have any of S7 Airlines’ flights available. Apart from flights to Moscow and Sochi, the carrier