Uralkaliy’s output of marketable potassium chloride decreased by 45.3% last year compared to the year 2008 and came down to 2.62 million tons. The company reports the drop in output has to do with the plummeting global demand for potassium-based fertilizers, which, in its turn, was brought about by the world economic recession. ‘After our customers started buying less potassium chloride on some market, the company was forced to remain partially idle throughout the entire year 2009,’ Uralkaliy reports. The company’s net profit dropped by three times in the first half of 2009 compared with the

President of MMK Management Company Viktor Rashnikov recently signed a special order that launches an energy-saving program at Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) and other divisions of MMK Group in 2010. According to the company’s Information and PR Department, such programs get updated and are implemented within the enterprise on a yearly basis, but the current economic recession has made these programs more important than ever before. The program provides for implementation of measures aimed at reduced electricity, fuel, heat, and air separation products spending as well as at

The Russian banks’ total share of overdue debt might amount to 9%-11% of their lending portfolio by the middle of the year, the Bank of Russia’s Banking Regulation and Surveillance Director Alexei Simanovskiy said to RIA Novosti. ‘If the current trend carries on, the share of overdue debt will probably amount to about 7% of the lending portfolio, with figures calculated in accordance with the Russian Accounting Standards. Added to this is 1% to 2% of the so-called postponed debt that the banks are officially allowed not to declare until July 1, 2010. This is done under the Bank of Russia’s

Austrian Airlines’ Yekaterinburg representation is going to close down soon. The company is to operate its last flights on March 26, 2010. ‘The local office has to stop operating due to economic reasons. The office employees will be offered jobs at the company’s representations in other Russian cities. This representation’s Director is also getting transferred to another place,’ the local office representative informed UrBC. ‘The instructions to this extent were delivered from the carrier’s headquarters in English,’ the office representative added. Austrian Airlines set up an office in

The year 2009 was marked by the impressive inflow of private individuals’ investments. According to Finance magazine, the total volume of deposits opened at the Russian banks by private customers increased by 18.5% since the beginning of January 2009 and reached more than 7 trillion RUR on December 1, 2009. A number of provincial banks were even more successful in this respect than the country’s average figures might suggest. For one, SKB-Bank witnessed an 81.7% increase in the volume of private individuals’ deposits over January-November 2009. The Finance magazine reports this makes SKB-Bank

Rus-Bank-Ural (formerly known as OAO KB Ural Treasures Bank) was merged with Rus-Bank on January 22, 2010, the Yekaterinburg-based bank’s official website states. In accordance with Article 58 of the Russian Federation Civil Code, Rus-Bank will act as a legal successor of Rus-Bank-Ural’s rights and obligations and will thus be in charge of all the contracts signed within the reorganized banking structures. Rus-Bank acquired Yekaterinburg-based Ural Treasures Bank in December 2007, raising its share in the local bank’s authorized capital from 0.0078% to 98.42%. On September 4, 2008 Ural

The volume of deposits opened by private individuals at Sberbank of Russia went up by 20.9% and reached 3.776 trillion RUR in 2009. According to the bank’s official report, the total increase came to 652 billion RUR in absolute figures, with 232 billion RUR coming in December 2009. This was probably because Russian companies paid various end-of-year bonuses to their employees. ‘The stable increase in private investment helped Sberbank maintain a high liquidity level and make up for the outflow of business customer investment (businesses withdrew 76 billion RUR from Sberbank last year). Also,

Bank Koltso Urala decided to invest money in the construction of a specialized two-storey BMW automobile center in Yekaterinburg. According to the bank’s Customer Relations Director Danil Abramov, the decision was taken as early as last year; this project lies within the framework of the bank’s cooperation with BauerHof, BMW’s official dealer. ‘We are through with all the negotiation stages by now; Koltso Urala has already transferred the first installment worth several scores of millions (the currency is Russian rubles) to the builders,’ Abramov said. The legendary car brand’s new sales

The regional branches of Rosgosstrakh Group’s ten insurance companies have recently been merged into a single federal company Rosgosstrakh (RGS). The new organization’s authorized capital is estimated at 8.1 billion RUR, the insurer’s official report states. The initial idea was to have consolidated the company through merging nine provincial insurance companies with OOO RGS-Stolitsa. These nine insurers were OOO RGS-Accord, OOO RGS-Dalniy Vostok, OOO RGS-Povolzhye, OOO RGS-Severo-Zapad, OOO RGS-Siberia, OOO RGS-Tatarstan, OOO RGS-Ural, OOO RGS-Center, and OOO RGS-Yug.

Doctor Web, the Russian information security software developer, warns users that Trojan.Winlock virus epidemic is gathering pace. The company reports the number of the Russian Federation citizens who have suffered from the virus came to several million people in January 2010 alone. The malignant program demands that a user send a paid text message to a certain number in order to have his or her Windows operation system unlocked. Doctor Web believes the damage comes to hundreds of millions of rubles. Trojan.Winlock’s latest versions that first emerged in November 2009 are becoming

KomsoMall Shopping & Entertainment Center (DVI Group’s project) is to open in Yekaterinburg on March 1, 2010. The workers are now completing all the finishing jobs, DVI Group’s press center reports. DVI Holding had meant to open the mall as early as February 2009. In December 2009, the company announced only the technical opening would take place in March, with the official opening ceremony expected later on. At the same time, Yekaterinburg municipal council says the mall is to start working in the second half of 2010. DVI Holding reports the mall’s total area comes to about 67,000 sq m.

Novolipetsk Iron & Steel Works (NLMK) produced 2% less steel in the fourth quarter of 2009 compared to the third quarter; the steel output came to 2.9 million tons in October-December 2009. Also, the company’s metal products output decreased by 3% compared to the third quarter of 2009 and reached 2.9 million tons in the fourth quarter of the year. In addition to this, the company’s metal products output went down by .3% in 2009 compared to 2008; the figure came to 10.6 million tons. The cast iron sales decreased by 20.9% last year compared to the year 2008 and by 29% in the last quarter

The international rating agency recently promoted the Rating Outlook for the Russian Federation’s long-term Issuer Default Ratings for both foreign and national currencies from Negative to Stable. What is more, these ratings were affirmed at their current BBB level. At the same time, Fitch Ratings affirmed the country’s short-term foreign currency Issuer Default Rating and the country ceiling rating at F3 and at BBB+, respectively. ‘The promotion of Russia’s Rating Outlook to Stable indicates that we are now feeling more confident about the country’s economic and financial stability. Also,

Standard & Poor’s, the international rating agency, came up with the credit ratings of Bank Souyz currently on its CreditWatch list. ‘The CreditWatch status means the bank’s current position is still somewhat uncertain; however, Souyz went through with its recapitalization plans smoothly and managed to change the ownership scheme as well as go for the asset buy-out,’ says Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Viktor Nikolskiy. Nevertheless, the bank’s own paying capacity is estimated to be very low and is characterized by high credit risks, a significant drop in market capitalization and

Volzhsko-Kamskoye Shipping Enterprise recently laid a claim against VIM-Avia Airlines; the plaintiff wants the defendant to be declared bankrupt. It is not clear how much money the shipping business insists on being paid; the court hearing has been scheduled for February 8, 2010, Moscow Arbitration Court’s official website states. ‘The sum in question is neither too big nor too harsh for the company; the parties are now negotiating for the debt repayment, so everything will be paid before the court hearings begin. VIM-Avia did not owe any money to Volzhsko-Kamskoye Shipping Enterprise,

‘Siberia Airlines cut down on the number of flights operated from Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk this January due to poor low season demand. We stopped operating these flights until the summertime comes, as they are not commercially expedient at the moment, Siberia Airlines’ press secretary Irina Kolesnikova said to Kommersant. Incidentally, Sky Express recently cancelled one of its three Yekaterinburg-Moscow flights for the same reason.

The internal rules and policy of Bank VTB 24 have not been approved of by the Federal Financial Market Service of the Russian Federation so as to counteract laundering proceeds from criminal activity as well as terrorist financing.

A Yekaterinburg dweller is about to place a complaint against Alfa-Bank, a local online banking forum states. The person who’s uploaded this piece of news claims that a bank customer was unable to use one of the services offered by Alfa-Bank. ‘The girl had a Cosmopolitan Visa issued for her by Alfa-Bank. The card was delivered with a booklet with the names and addresses of all the companies that offered a discount to customers paying by this card type. This discount bonus actually costs an extra 299 RUR a year; this money is supposed to pay off when the cardholder makes purchases in the

The net loss of Promsvyazbank skyrocketed by 1,347,043 RUR, or 316% in 2009, that is, from 426,277 RUR at the end of 2008 to 1,773,320 RUR in December 2009. In fact, the loss figures reached 3,236,619 RUR in the third quarter of 2009, whereas in the fourth quarter, Promsvyazbank had 78,644 RUR worth of profits. The bank explains the increase in net loss has to do with the need to create possible loss reserves, which is rather costly.

The net profit of AKB Investbank decreased by 40.182 million RUR in the last quarter of 2009. The bank made 34.392 million RUR worth of net profit in the third quarter but actually got 5.79 million RUR worth of net loss in the fourth quarter of the year. The bank says the primary reason for the decrease in profits was the drop in revenues coming from foreign currency operations, including those related to foreign currency revaluation. Also, the bank had to increase the volume of its possible loss reserves.