The employees of Yekaterinburg-based Bank24.ru are now being subject to Polygraph testing because over 20 million RUR has been stolen from the bank customer’s account, says Sverdlovsk Region division of the Internal Affairs Ministry’s press officer Valery Gorelykh. According to the press officer, the main suspect is a woman who used some forged ID in the name of a Ms Zelertseva to steal over 21.5 million RUR from the bank in November 2010. The theft was detected when the customer who had the account in the bank, an advertising business executive, went abroad and asked for the money to be

Using one’s VISA card to pay for products and services is getting not only convenient but also economically expedient: VISA makes a unique offer to the Russian cardholders between April 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011; the offer is dubbed, ‘Try It – You’ll Love It.’ Bank Koltso Urala’s Payment Systems & Cards Department’s experts explain that any VISA cardholder, including the holders of cards issued by Koltso Urala, can pay for any products and services by his or her VISA card, spending any amount of money, in any place. The bank’s Payment Systems & Cards Director Olga Sharafeyeva

It has recently been detected that a number of Russian air carriers have been selling tickets for the flights not sanctioned by the aviation authorities. Sky Express, for example, signed chartered flights agreements to take its passengers to Pardubice, the Czech Republic, even though the permission to do this was not procured. Avianova started selling tickets for Moscow-Simferopol flight without obtaining the permission of the Ukrainian authorities o do so as well, RBC daily reports. Rosaviation’s spokesperson says the airline actually contracted for operating flights which it has no legal

The French retail hypermarket chain Auchan is planning to open four Auchan stores in Russia and one Raduga discount store, the Management Control Director of Auchan Russia Ludovic Holinier told the reporters during the Adam Smith Institute Russian Retail Trade Forum. ‘This is the minimum figure we are heading for, as we used to intend to set up at least six hypermarkets in Russia,’ Retail.ru quotes the executive as saying. The Director explained that fewer stores would be opened as it is hard to find suitable land allotments: the economic recession of 2008-2009 caused most construction sites

The net profit of OAO Novolipetsk Iron& Steel Works (NLMK) decreased by 71% in the fourth quarter of 2010 compared with the third quarter, dropping from $516m down to $149m, the company’s report (drawn up in accordance with the US GAAP) states. However, the revenues for the entire year rose by 36% and reached $8.35bn due to the sales going up to their pre-recession level and increased sales of high value-added produce; in addition, the growing production output had a role to play as well. The company’s net profit thus rose to $1.25bn.

Ural Chamber of Commerce & Industry came up with the first report on the outcomes of the emergencies caused in the Urals’ business life by the catastrophe in Japan. According to the Chamber’s Legal Issues Director Georgy Topolyan, a Yekaterinburg-based company that used to deliver machinery from Japan placed its claim with the chamber in mid-March. The chamber’s analysts now expect the number of claims from the local entrepreneurs affected by the Japanese disaster to go up. ‘The Urals’ businesses have been cooperating with their Japanese counterparts quite a bit, so the turnover of goods

OAO RosSpetsSplav reports its net profit decreased by 68.44% in the fourth quarter of 2010. The company explains this has to do with increased managerial expenses and decreased sales profits.

Orenburg Airlines won’t be able to operate chartered flights from Moscow to Larnaka and from Larnaka to Ufa. Rosaviation motivated its refusal by the fact that no agreements had been reached with the already appointed carriers. ‘We applied for the agreements with the appointed carriers, but our application was rejected,’ the Association of Russian Tour Operators’ website quotes Orenburg Airlines Commercial Director Sergey Lazarev as saying. Now under the Transportation Ministry’s Order No. 2, to start operating chartered flights an airline needs not only the aviation agency’s approval but

OAO Pnevmostroymashina finished the year 2010 off with 103.81 million RUR worth of losses, the company reports. As it happens, the year 2009 was rounded up with 355.71 million RUR worth of losses. In January 2010, the company was actually ordered to undergo bankruptcy proceedings for one and a half years.

Russia’s Federal Financial Markets Service’s division in Ural Federal District carried out a field inspection of OAO Zapsibcombank. Upon the completion of the inspection, which revealed a number of violations, the bank was ordered to take measures to prevent any violations of this kind in the future.

Russia’s Federal Financial Markets Service’s division in Ural Federal District carried out a field inspection of OAO UralTransBank. Upon the completion of the inspection, which revealed a number of violations, the bank was ordered to take measures to prevent any violations of this kind in the future.

The 14th Russian Wings awarding ceremony took place in Moscow recently. This year, thirty-seven air carriers competed for the title of the Airline of The Year. The winners were selected in the course of a secret ballot by a board of over a hundred independent experts such as the authorities representatives, members of NGOs, aviation veterans, and journalists. Ural Airlines was declared the winner in the Airline of The Year – Domestic Passenger Carrier in Group II (passenger turnover between 1 and 3 billion passenger-kilometers) category for the year 2010.

Boeing representatives say taking part in the special economic zone Titanium Valley project will give their company an opportunity not to be affected by various calamitous events such the recent earthquake in Japan. However, Boeing has not decided what kind of produce its new facility will come up with yet; nor has the carrier settled down the issue of how much it is going to invest. ‘We could decide upon making titanium airplane parts. It is difficult to speak of exact investment sums just yet. We are talking about approximately $20m to $50m for the development of the production facilities,’

Boeing has not made up its mind yet as to whether the company is going to become a resident of the special economic zone Titanium Valley in Sverdlovsk Region. Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin presented the project’s potential to businesses in Yekaterinburg recently. The special economic zone that is expected to house titanium goods production facilities for the needs of the aviation and medical industries will be located near Nizhniy Tagil and Verkhnyaya Salda. Alexander Misharin reminded his audience that the valley residents would enjoy customs duties and VAT reliefs on the

UMMC and Renova Group came up with a joint statement that denies any allegations as to Bank Koltso Urala holding any forged bills of exchange of Koltsovo Airport that had been created to do harm to the airport. ‘This information is not accurate,’ the statement goes. ‘It was detected in the course of an internal investigation that the airport’s former CFO Anton Fedotov abused his power by forging the bills and allegedly transferring them onto Koltso Urala. The investigation dossier has been handed over to the law-enforcement authorities so that criminal action may be taken; the files are now

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin’s suggestion that the dates of the 8th international arms and munitions exhibition Nizhniy Tagil Defence Expo 2011 should be postponed was greeted with the federal authorities’ approval. Head of Russian Government Vladimir Putin signed a decree that states the exhibition will be held on September 8-11, 2011. Visitors to the event will be able to see the produce of Russia’s defense industry’s leading manufacturers, including the members of Rostechnologii State Corporation as well as Concern PVO Almaz-Antey, Oboronservis, OPK Oboronprom, Tactical

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court ruled on March 9, 2011 that Protex Hotel located at 70 Vosmoye Marta St in Yekaterinburg must undergo bankruptcy proceedings, thus closing case А60-10621/2010, Kommersant reports under its Insolvency Announcements heading. Alexei Zamarayev, a member of Alliance Self-Regulatory Organization of Trustees in Bankruptcy, was appointed the company’s trustee in bankruptcy.

Kommersant reports Haulage Director of Russian Railways Alexei Mironov might be appointed Head of Sverdlovsk Region Railways. According to the newspaper’s source, the appointment is expected to go through in early April. The railways’ current head Vladimir Suprun will probably become Russian Railways’ Infrastructure Director. Now neither Russian Railways nor Sverdlovsk Region Railways have commented on the possible changes so far.

OAO Uralsvyazinform reports it asked to be taken off the united state register of legal entities today as the company stops operating as OAO Uralsvyazinform and merges with OAO Rostelecom. In accordance with the stock exchange rules, trading in the company’s stock must be halted starting March 28, 2011 until the reorganization date. The merger will be completed and therefore the shares will be converted on the day the entry regarding the dissolution of OAO Uralsvyazinform is fed into the register, which is expected to happen on April 1, 2011.

OAO SKB-Bank’s stock debentures (series BO 03) were promoted from MICEX B to A1 quotations list. This means that the bank fully meets all of MICEX’s financial requirements and enjoys a great level of corporate governance and business transparency. ‘Once they have been promoted to A quotation list, our high-yield debentures become even more investor-attractive as they offer a combination of great reliability and excellent investment opportunities,’ the bank’s analysts report. SKB-Bank went through with this BO 03 bond issue, worth 3 billion RUR altogether, on November 30, 2010. The bonds will