According to RBC.Rating, SKB-Bank was featured on the list of Russian banks with greatest asset volumes in the first half of 2008. TOP 500 reports SKB-Bank’s assets rose by 51% between July 1, 2007 and July 1, 2008, while its net assets amounted to nearly 36 billion RUR by the end of June 2008, which secured the bank a five-point promotion and the 74th position in the Top 500 rating.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by SberInvestBank to nongovernmental financial organizations for 181 days to 1 year dropped by 82.12% (from 19.635 million RUR to 3.51 million RUR) in January-August 2008.

MegaFon, the major telecommunications provider, announced they have signed the official agreement with Apple Inc. regarding iPhone 3G’s sales in Russia. ‘The fist iPhones will hit the stores as soon as this year,’ the company’s press officer said to an UrBC reporter.

According to the National Managers’ League’s profitability ranking of unit investment trusts as of August 29, 2008, the share price of LUKoil Fund First (Uralsib Management Company) has gone down by 27.63% since January 1, 2008.

Moscow, September 2, 2008 – UC RUSAL, the world’s largest aluminium and alumina producer, has sent a letter to the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) requesting that the FAS take relevant measures to stop LUKOIL violating antimonopoly law and hold the company to account for this breach. Since April 2008, LUKOIL has significantly decreased the supply of oil coke to UC RUSAL’s largest aluminium smelters in violation of its obligations under existing long-term contracts. By cutting the volumes of supply without UC RUSAL’s consent, LUKOIL companies are trying to force UC RUSAL to agree to

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Bank24.ru to nongovernmental financial organizations for over 3 years plummeted by 98.1% (from 18.599 million RUR to 353,000 RUR) in January-August 2008.

Concern Kalina, the Russian cosmetics giant, published a consolidated financial report on the bank’s activity in the first half of 2008. The report was drawn up in accordance with the international financial reporting standards (IFRS) and stated that the company’s revenues and gross profit dropped by 21.42% and 30.9%, respectively, compared with the first half of 2007. At the same time, Kalina’s net profit decreased by 2.2% against a year earlier, dropping from $13.8m in January-June 2007 to $13.5m in January-June 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Uralprivatbank to state-run for-profit organizations for 1 to 3 years dropped by 61.36% (from 2.2 million RUR to 850,000 RUR) in January-August 2008.

Starting September 1, 2008, Ural Airlines is going to operate an additional Yekaterinburg-Moscow flight. The plane leaves Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg at 7.25 AM and arrives at Domodedovo airport of Moscow at 7.40 AM. The flight will be operated on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays and is primarily targeted at business travelers whose working day in Moscow could begin as early as 9 AM. The carrier currently offers its customers up to six Moscow-bound flights a day at some rather attractive-looking fares: the cheapest single tickets are available for only 2,850 RUR. ‘We are

Auto Plus Group was unable to comment on the negotiations on the sale of their blocking shareholding it is rumored to hold with Russian Retail Growth Fund. The spokesperson for the company says some updates might be expected from the Group’s GD Pavel Shestopalov on Monday, September 1, 2008. In fact, despite the reports on alleged negotiations, neither party involved has provided any official comments so far. Auto Plus now unites car centers like Toyota Center Yekaterinburg Zapad and Lexus Yekaterinburg, a seller of used cars Auto Plus Sever, and Auto Plus Rent A Car.

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin decided that 15 million RUR should be directed from the region’s budget to support the local light industry. Chelyabinsk Region’s Government has been taking such steps since 2003, subsidizing the light industry enterprises’ loans (the government makes up for 50% of the refinancing interest rate on loans taken in Russian banks). According to the terms of the support program, factories must invest the money thus saved in production development (largely greater output and creating new jobs). In fact, these enterprises can also finance production

The Moscow-based Renaissance Hotel is going to host the 7th International Retail Business Summit on September 4-6, 2008. Some representatives of Sverdlovsk Region’s business community intend to take part in the event, Kinetika’s Marketing Director Stanislav Danilchenko being one of them. All in all, at least a thousand people from fifteen different countries are expected to attend the summit. The agenda of the business forum provides for a series of plenary sessions and private sittings as well as a Moscow-World Class Retail telebridge on technological breakthroughs and innovational concepts

URSA Bank took part in an auction conducted by Saint Petersburg Currency Exchange for a state corporation dealing in housing facilities reform. The company in question was willing to select the best bank to deposit its funds with, so URSA Bank was chosen as one of the winners and was able to sign an agreement with the fund within the determined money limit. ‘The bank was put on the authorized banks list due to its impressive Russian and international ratings and thanks to the sufficient amount of core capital,’ URSA Bank’s Deputy CEO Maxim Krasnikov says.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of private individuals’ demand deposits and other investments in Bank Uralfinance dropped by 16.52% (from 16.047 million RUR to 13.395 million RUR) in January-July 2008.

‘Not only did our Magnificent Seven deposit prove as good as we had expected it to be, but it actually surpassed our boldest expectations. More than 7,500 people have used this deposit type within the first month of launching it alone, which is even more striking given that that we did not engage in any aggressive ad campaign to speak of. The deposit grew so amazingly popular that we thought it best to introduce it in all of URSA Bank’s subsidiaries a few weeks ahead of the original schedule. We’ve even had some customers calling from offices in Serov who wanted to use the deposit ASAP just a

Ural Treasures Bank is going to become Rus-Bank-Ural Open Joint Stock Company on September 4, 2008. The rest of the bank’s details have remained the same: the bank’s C/A number in the Bank of Russia’s Yekaterinburg division is 30101810300000000942, the tax payer number is 6603005465, the bank identification code is 046551942, the tax inspectorate registration code (KPP) is 667101001, OKPO number is 09253056, OKVED number is 65.12, and the state registration number (OGRN) is 1026600000932.

Ural Airlines flew its millionth passenger in 2008: this was Dmitriy Tarantin, who used the company’s Yekaterinburg-Sochi flight 219 at 9.30 AM on August 29, 2008. The airline’s Deputy CFO Dmitriy Lvov congratulated the lucky passenger and presented him with a laptop. Remarkably, the carrier is to welcome its millionth passenger of the year two months earlier compared to the year 2007. ‘This has to do with the greater number of aircraft we operate now. Ural Airlines is now using some Russian aircraft as well as five modern and comfortable A 320 airplanes that make it possible to offer our

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in VUZ-Bank valid for 1 to 3 years went down by 14.34% (from 23.661 million RUR to 20.268 million RUR) in January-July 2008.

According to Delovoy Kvartal’s rating, SKB-Leasing was Yekaterinburg’s second best leasing market player in the first half of 2008. The magazine reports SKB-Leasing was able to outstrip many federal-scale companies in the rating with its 688 million RUR worth of money provided to the customers in the first half of the year. At the same time, SKB-Leasing has remained Yekaterinburg’s No. 1 in terms of money offered to finance the purchase of machinery; besides, the company tops the ratings that feature the market leaders in terms of new transaction costs, current transaction costs, volume of

‘The clashes between Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg and Krasnoyarsk Airlines have more than the civil law contract side to them; the transport authorities are rightly pointing to the need to look into the actual circumstances,’ lawyer Ivan Kadochnikov said to UrBC. The region’s public prosecution authorities for transportation warned Koltsovo airport against refusing to render any ground handling services to Krasnoyarsk Airlines due to the carrier’s failing to pay their ground handling bills. The authorities report this would be a violation of the federal laws. ‘It’s quite true that