445,000 automobiles are currently registered in Yekaterinburg, which is actually 37,000 more than one year ago. 94.4% of these cars belong to private individuals, says Vice Mayor of Yekaterinburg Viktor Konteev’s press secretary Ilona Starodubtseva. Yekaterinburg’s most popular vehicles are Russian cars: their share in the total number of cars driven around the city comes to 38.8%. New foreign automobiles are the second most popular kind: their share comes to 35%. All in all, 54% of all the cars in Yekaterinburg are vehicles under ten years old. It has been calculated that Yekaterinburg has

Moscow Arbitration Court ruled that OOO Technosila, a consumer electronics and white goods chain store, must undergo bankruptcy proceedings and appointed a trustee in bankruptcy for the insolvent company, RIA Novosti reports. Justice Tatiana Potapova appointed Sergey Potapov, the director of one of the stores, for the position. The company’s insolvency case will be heard in court on December 23, 2010. It was declared at the latest session that creditors laid a total of 8.8 billion RUR worth of claims against Technosila, whereas the chain store’s assets were estimated at 7.9 billion RUR.

Metallosnabzheniye I Sbyt’s July issue carried a rating of Russia’s leading ferrous and non-ferrous metals manufacturers and traders in the first half of 2010. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) was rated Russia’s best sheet products manufacturer. Then, MMK-Metiz (MMK’s daughter enterprise) was featured in the rating as one of Russia’s top three metal goods manufacturer; OOO MMK Trading House became the second best metal trader, MMK PR Department reports. The magazine rating is compiled on the basis of the questionnaires filled in by the customers, the market experts’ responses, and

It looks like the solvent demand for housing has gone back to its pre-recession levels now, even though the mortgage market does not seem to follow suit just yet: the existing homes buyers are faced with the lack of affordable mortgage schemes at the moment. This is why SKB-Bank wants to meet the market expectations by launching its own mortgage program on July 12, 2010. ‘Our new program can be seen as an express mortgage of sorts. It’s just as easy to get a mortgage under this scheme as it is to get a regular customer loan. The difference lies in that the future house, apartment, or room

Expert-Ural, an analytical center, came up with its rating of banks located in the Urals and Western Siberia based on these banks’ performance in the first quarter of 2010. Eighty-three banks were featured in the Top list altogether. The banks were evaluated on the basis of the following parameters: asset volume, private individuals’ lending portfolio volume, private individuals’ deposits volume, and the amount of money placed with the bank by legal entities. OOO Koltso Urala Commercial Bank was featured in the Top15 Banks lists on along all these characteristics. For instance, Koltso Urala

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development now gives its customers an opportunity to apply for its most popular loans online. The Open and Minute’s Work loans and the bank’s credit card with a grace period have now grown both advantageous and convenient thanks to the online application option. ‘You can visit the bank’s website at any suitable time and complete the application for one of the three products offered. Since you can take your time and have all the documents at home, you can fill in all the blanks as precisely as possible. What is more, you can always go back to any point to

The international rating agency affirmed UralTransBank’s B- long-term Issuer Default Rating with Stable outlook. The rating affirmation means the agency has taken into account the recent improvements on the market; still, Fitch Ratings feels the bank should be worried about the poor quality of its assets. ‘According to its reports, UralTransBank’s bad debt came to 20.8% of the total lending portfolio at the end of the fist quarter, whereas 21% of the portfolio underwent restructuring. Also, the bank keeps negotiating with the problem borrowers. At the same time, UralTransBank’s shrinking

Toyota’s Russian dealers sold 30,895 automobiles in the first half of 2010, which was 19% less than a year earlier, even though the sales went up by 28% (6,922 cars) in June, Avtostat reports. Camry, a business class sedan made in Saint Petersburg, proved to be the car manufacturer’s best-selling make in January-June 2010. Nevertheless, even Camry’s sales decreased by 16%, with dealers selling 8,052 automobiles in the first half of the year altogether. Corolla was the second best-selling make, with 5,529 cars purchased in January to June 2010, but the sales figures were still 33% lower than a

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development has been running its loans-to-SMEs program for five years now. During these five years, thousands of companies have taken up on the offer, which means the program has contributed significantly to the Urals’ economy as well as that of the other Russian regions where the bank operates. The loans-to-SMEs scheme is currently the major external source of financing for small businesses. This means the companies can borrow money fast, with very few documents to file, and on good terms. The special borrowing party evaluation techniques and standardized

The Ural division of Rostechnadzor (the state environmental, technological, and nuclear safety watchdog) completed its investigation of the fatal accident at UMMC’s OAO Svyatogor based in Krasnouralsk, Sverdlovsk Region. The ad hoc committee came to the conclusion that the accident had been caused by poor production control over compliance with the industrial safety regulations and unsatisfactory production and technological discipline, the spokesperson for Rostechnadzor says. The top executives of Svyatogor were notified of poor production discipline in the divisions of Severniy ore and zinc

Koltso Urala Commercial Bank’s Retail Department’s analysts report private individuals have been opening more deposits since the summer started, so the bank’s private individuals’ deposits volume is increasing by at least 15 million RUR daily these days. Remarkably, the growth figures only reached 1 to 2 million RUR as recently as January. The bank’s Retail Director Denis Belogurov says the deposit volume growth has been witnessed by the entire banking system. Various banks’ representatives explain that people no longer need a special reason for opening a bank deposit; they normally go on

When the ambassadors of Mexico and Switzerland visited Yekaterinburg in preparation for InnoProm 2010 exhibition and forum, both of them said their countries would like to introduce the positions of their honorary consuls in Yekaterinburg. What is more, the position of the Slovak Republic’s honorary consul will be established in Yekaterinburg in the near future, Minister for International and Foreign Economic Relations of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Kharlov announced today. ‘The Mexican and Swiss consulates will be set up within eighteen months’ time, whereas the Slovac Republic’s consulate

The German car manufacturer has called off 15,500 Corsa automobiles made in 2010 due to the possible hand-operated brake defect, RIA Novosti reports. The automobile concern is planning to fit the brakes with two additional backing plates or replace the brakes altogether if necessary. At the moment, the efficiency of these Corsa’s hand brakes is somewhat imperfect. It will take a car mechanic between thirty minutes to one hour to replace the brakes. Opel has already informed the Federal Motor Transport Authority in Flensburg about the problem, so the car owners have been receiving

On July 1, 2010, the Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development dismissed any fees previously charged for using their QUIK system. Now all the current users can sign the new agreements, while the new users can subscribe and work free of charge. What is more, some other changes were introduced in the system on July 1. For one, the brokerage operations fees have been decreased for customers performing marginal transactions. Also, no fee is no charged for performing depositary transactions with marginal securities. Finally, some little modifications were made in the other commission-based

OAO Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank (SGB) was featured 61st in the rating of Russia’s Top 500 banks with the greatest private individuals deposit volumes. The ranking was compiled by RBC.Rating on the basis of data available for the first quarter of 2010. According to RBC.Rating, Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank’s private individuals deposit volume reached 10.904 billion RUR on April 1, 2010. This was 62% better than twelve months earlier and ensured the bank’s rating improvement by eight positions up. As for the local ratings, rather than the country-wide ones, Gubernskiy Bank is currently one of

‘Renault Trucks and AMUR car factory are going to sign a framework agreement on their truck-assembling project on July 16, 2010, in the course of the upcoming InnoProm 2010 exhibition. The agreement will mean that Renault’s intermediary Midlum trucks will now be assembled in Novouralsk, Sverdlovsk Region, on the premises of ZAO AMUR. The negotiations took one and a half years to complete; Sverdlovsk Region, ZAO AMUR, and Renault Trucks reached an understanding on the point of cooperation in February 2010,’ Minister for International and Foreign Economic Relations of Sverdlovsk Region

‘An economic surge is not very likely to happen in the second half of the year. The Central Banks are considering cutting back on the stimulus money packages, while investors are not as optimistic any more as they used to be in the beginning of the year. The ruble-strengthening stage is over, so the ruble is now fluctuating between its ups and downs. Given the unsolved economic problems, the euro will probably cost 1.22 EUR/USD on average, whereas the dollar might come to the ratio of 31.7 to 32 RUR per dollar. As for the euro, it looks relatively stable at 38.7 to 39 RUR per euro,’ says

Moody’s Investors Services, the international rating agency, changed the outlook of MDM Bank’s D financial strength rating (BFSR) and Ba2 foreign currency deposit rating from Negative to Stable. The agency feels this promotion signifies the bank’s enhanced liquidity and great market capitalization as well as the successful completion of the merger between MDM Bank and URSA Bank. Moody’s reports the recently united bank preserved and improved its corporate structure and basic financial performance indicators. ‘The merger was generally beneficent for MDM Bank’s market presence, its brand

The employees of Lab Tests & Engineering Measurements Center’s Chelyabinsk Region division carried out a multi-faceted environmental inspection of Russian Copper Company’s ZAO Karabashmed at the end of June 2010. The experts’ conclusion states that the enterprise does not exceed the maximum permissible atmospheric discharge quotas set for its copper-smelting facilities No 0015 and vitriolic facilities No 0202. ‘Once I have become the company’s director, no emergency or excessive discharges ever occur. This is what the recent inspection proved. However, even the within-the-limits

The credit rating given to SKB-Bank by Rus-Rating was affirmed at BB+ once again on July 1, 2010. This is actually the greatest result among all Sverdlovsk Region-based banks. Rus-Rating’s analysts explain the SKB-Bank’s current strengths are the great probability of state support and the presence of financially strong proprietors with their help. They also point out the bank’s current share of the market, its reliable business customer base made up of Sverdlovsk Region’s large, credit-worthy enterprises, its lack of dependence on the international funding, and its capital adequacy. ‘SKB-Bank