Bank Severnaya Kazna (the asset of Alfa-Bank) will no longer support the 3D-Secure technology, the bank’s official website reports. This means that, starting from September 1, 2009, the bank’s customers will be unable to carry out enhanced-security transactions with the help of their Visa Classic, Visa Gold, Visa Business, Visa Virtuon, or Visa Platinum cards at Verified by Visa online stores.

Bank Severnaya Kazna (the asset of Alfa-Bank) has recently informed its business customers about the upcoming changes in the bank’s cash and settlement services. For one, the writing-off transactions will take longer starting September 15, 2009. This means the money will be actually written off one’s account only the day after the bank has received the invoice documents. In addition, the basic commissions charged for services rendered to legal entities, sole traders, and private self-employed individuals will go up on October 1, 2009. This increase is to affect both the Russian ruble and the

Ural Airlines will be offering special prices for Beijing flights operated on Wednesdays between August 26, 2009 and September 30, 2009. Provided you travel to China within this time period and go back to Yekaterinburg within five days, the return ticket will only cost ?379. This is a limited offer, however. ‘We are thus offering the Ural dwellers a chance to spend a long weekend in Beijing; they can also plan a grand shopping tour there,’ the carrier reports. In fact, the airline operates two direct flights to Beijing a week, that is, on Wednesdays and Sundays. Experts believe these flights’

Wire mill 170 was recently repaired at Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK). The seven-day repairs were carried out in accordance with the enterprise’s schedule, and MMK Group’s Mechanical Repairs Center, Metallurgspetsstroyremont, Magnitogorsk Maintenance Center, and Electroremont acted as the project’s contractors. The repairs included replacing the mill’s inner lining with some new substitutes and checking, repairing, and replacing the mill’s mechanical parts. Now the wire mill 170 has been launched, all of MMK shop’s three units became fully functional, MMK PR Department reports.

The Human Resources Department of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) won in the fifth All-Russian HR of the Year contest. The competition is targeted at highlighting and sharing personnel management experience as well as at public promotion of the country’s most efficient HR departments. MMK’s PR Department reports the competition Board spoke very highly of MMK’s impressive personnel policies that rely on modern methods and formats. ‘Employee retention and providing workers with jobs under the recession is the main positive outcome of the enterprise’s crisis-defying action plan adopted

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin chaired the regional anti-terrorist committee meeting recently. The main point on the agenda had to do with anti-terrorist protection of local schools and colleges. According to the regional Education Minister Vladimir Sadyrin, over 3,113 local schools, kindergartens, and colleges welcomed students on September 1, 2009; all of these have already been examined by the ministry’s experts and law-enforcement officers. The educational establishments based in Miass, Kartalinskiy district, and Lokomotivniy proved to be best protected from the possible

Predein & Partners PR Agency’s findings indicate that UralBusinessConsulting Agency of Information and Analytics (IAA UrBC) made the greatest contribution to Sverdlovsk Region-based banks’ favorable public image. The agency’s Managing Partner Alexander Predein says these studies were part of the company’s production process. Their bank image-contributing media rating is based on such criteria as the type of publications carried by the media as well as the credibility of their web pages. According to the agency’s report, IAA UrBC has also been producing the greatest number of news items

The Russian Federation Federal Financial Market Service’s Ural Federal District’s division imposed a 500-million-ruble fine on Mayak Asset Management, the Service reports. As it happens, Mayak’s General Director is Alexei Pozdeev.

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court is now looking into Aston Construction and Assembly Administration’s bankruptcy application. The paper was placed with the court by Tsentr Metalla. The company suggested electing Vyacheslav Stepanchenko Aston’s trustee in bankruptcy. Mr. Stepanchenko is a member of the Ural Self-Regulatory Organization of Trustees in Bankruptcy Noncommercial Partnership. The court will have to consider the validity of Tsentr Metalla’s application on August 24, 2009.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) took legal action against Sylvinite and Uralkaliy, accusing the potassium manufacturers of violating the competition protection legislation, namely, Article 10 (part 1, paragraph 1) of the corresponding federal bill. Additionally, the FAS believes Uralkaliy has violated Article 10 (part 1, paragraph 6) of the same act. The legal proceedings were instituted upon the request of TNK-BP Holding, a number of agrochemical enterprises, and some state authorities. The two companies’ alleged offense consisted in setting monopolistically high potassium chloride

According to the Central Bank of Russia, the volume of deposits opened at VUZ-Bank by non-profit nongovernmental organizations for 91 days to 180 days nosedived by a whopping 100% (from 9.114 million RUR to zero) as of July 1, 2009.

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court refused to declare the Federal Antimonopoly Service’s decision regarding MRSK Urala (the interregional network distribution company) illegitimate. The FAS insisted that MRSK Urala had violated the antimonopoly legislation and failed to meet the FAS’s demands to eliminate the violation. The unhappy company appealed against this decision, but the court ruled in favor of the FAS. Now the violation consisted in MRSK Urala making Uralelectromed accept the terms of the electricity supply agreement, even though these terms were both unfavorable for Uralelectromed

VSMPO-Avisma Corporation’s revenues might drop by an impressive 30% by the end of 2009 in comparison with the year 2008, the company’s BOD member Vladislav Tetyukhin announced at this year’s MAKS air show. Tetyukhin explained that the corporation would actually manage to make some net profit in 2009, but he was reluctant to give the exact figures. At the same time, VSMPO-Avisma’s goods output in 2009 is expected to come to 19,000 to 20,000 tons against last year’s 25,600 tons, RIA Novosti quoted the business executive as saying.

UralBusinessConsulting Agency of Information and Analytics found out that Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation might soon close down its Marketing and Project Management Departments under the ongoing internal reform and personnel changes. For one, the company’s Marketing Director Alexei Slavitch-Pristupa and Project Management Director Oleg Golovko have already been made to resign. As a matter of fact, Uralmash got a new General Director on July 9, 2009. Oleg Danchenko came to replace the former GD Nazim Efendiev.

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court ruled in favor of the Federal Antimonopoly Service’s decision to impose a 19.5-million-ruble fine on Koltsovo Airport of Yekaterinburg for the latter’s abuse of its market domination. The airport was accused of refusing ground handling contracts to Siberia Airlines. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) declared in September 2008 that Koltsovo Airport had violated Article 10 (part 1) of the Competition Protection Act by abusing its dominant position on the market. The Russian Federation Administrative Offense Code states this must result in a fine, so the

Four carriers operating in Southeast Asia became Ural Airlines’ partners in August 2009. The agreement with Hainan Airlines was signed on August 14, 2009; it is to be followed by an agreement with Air Macau Company Limited on August 23, 2009. ‘The trips to Macao are often compared to those to Monte Carlo, as both resorts are equally splendid and luxurious. Our customers can now book a ticket to Macao in any of our booking offices as well as in our Wings Travel Club’s outlets. As a matter of fact, making the Chinese air carriers our partners has meant that we can now offer a greater variety of

In the first half of 2009, Klyuchevsk Ferrous Alloys Works’ net loss amounted to 101.19 million RUR, whereas a year earlier, the enterprise made 110.147 million RUR worth of profits. These data are available from the company’s report. The enterprise’s revenues went down by 2.4 times and only reached 707.108 million RUR in January-June 2009. At the same time, the works’ revenues in the second quarter of 2009 were 59% greater than in the first quarter of the year. In fact, the company made 434.361 million RUR in terms of revenues in April-June 2009 due to better produce sales.

‘Our company’s top executives were forced to sue Luxury Life in order to get the rent debts paid because the debtor was not willing to work on the out-of-court settlement,’ Nova-Group Development informed an UrBC reporter. Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court has partially sustained the claim laid by Nova-Group Development against Luxury Life. The plaintiff insisted on being paid $83,780, so the court ruled that $42,110 must be paid by the defendant. Now Luxury Life owns FENDI CASA, a fashionable furniture and home accessories boutique that used to be operating in Yekaterinburg’s Tikhvin

The net profit of Uralenergochermet plummeted by 77.7% in the second quarter of 2009, from 1.03 million RUR in the first quarter of the year to 230,000 RUR in the second quarter. According to the company’s representatives, their net profit decreased so drastically due to dropping sales revenues, which, in its turn, had to do with cutting back on production output by 9.5%.

‘It’s not true that Bank VTB has given up on the claims laid against Pnevmostroymashina and PSM-Gidravlika. We still insist on being paid our 103,529,527.77 RUR and want to have the guarantees of being paid as well. Bank VTB’s Yekaterinburg subsidiary never placed any ‘backing-out’ applications with Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court,’ the bank’s press officer said to an UrBC reporter. Nevertheless, it has been reported earlier that the bank withdrew its action. ‘The claim was placed with the court on June 23, 2009 after Pnevmostroymashina and PSM-Gidravlika failed to meet their loan