‘We’ve carried out the planned inspections of UC RUSAL’s local enterprises. As far as Sverdlovsk Region is concerned, we examined Sevuralboksitruda (the bauxite mine), Polevskoy cryolite plant, and Siberia & Urals Aluminum Company’s Ural Smelter (UAZ-SUAL). None of these enterprises are in an emergency condition,’ says the Deputy Head of Ural Federal District’s division of Rostechnadzor (the state technological and nuclear safety watchdog) Anatoly Soloviev. ‘We did have a few questions for the enterprises’ top executives, however. Firstly, the repairs and maintenance get very little

URSA Bank’s assets (calculated in accordance with the IAS) reached 202.7 billion RUR in the first quarter of 2009, which was 14.3% better than a year earlier. The share of quick assets in the bank’s balance sheet total came to over 20% on April 1, 2009, which means the bank enjoys a stable liquidity status despite the ongoing economic crisis, the bank’s press office reports. URSA Bank’s own funds amounted to 28.2 billion RUR on April 1, 2009, with the capital adequacy at 15.7% (which is twice the number required by the Basel Committee). The bank’s loan portfolio had reached 120.8 billion RUR

Alfa-Bank announced that it was going to stop offering e-banking services to Bank Severnaya Kazna’s private customers. The service will probably no longer be available in the fall of 2009, Bank Severnaya Kazna’s official website reports. Those private individuals who would like to use the bank’s distance service channels are welcome to use Alfa-Bank’s outlet that is now located on the premises where Bank Severnaya Kazna’s office used to be. They can also consult an expert there. As a matter of fact, Bank Severnaya Kazna’s Internet-Bank system was believed to have been one of Russia’s best

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin signed a decree that sets up a regional demographic development committee. According to the spokesperson for the Governor, this coordination committee is a new advisory body with a mission to coordinate the actions of the state authorities, the local governments, and non-governmental organizations in the field of the region’s demographic policies. The council is to organize interdepartmental events that will help to improve the local demographics and to draw up improvement proposals. Then, this new committee is to analyze the birth and mortality rates

UralBusinessConsulting Agency of Information and Analytics found out that Uralvagonzavod Scientific and Production Enterprise might have to close down their Yekaterinburg subsidiary and Lipetsk representation. At least, the documents to this extent have already been prepared for the Board of Directors’ next meeting. It has been reported that the closing-down process will be accompanied by the cancellation of renting agreements as well as all the additional ones; the staff will have to leave. Uralvagonzavod does admit the closing down of the subsidiary and the representation is possible. ‘At

Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) is to resume looking into the claim laid against Bank24.ru and Guta-Strakhovaniye’s Yekaterinburg subsidiary on July 31, 2009. The bank and the insurance company are accused of violating Article 11 (part 1) of the Federal Competition Protection Act FZ-135 as of July 26, 2006, the spokesperson for FAS regional division reports. The division believes that the two accused violated the law by signing a general agreement, which might result in imposing inconvenient and less attractive insurance terms upon the bank loan

Ural Airlines signed an interline agreement with Air China; this will come into full force on August 4, 2009. This means Ural Airlines’ passengers will have an opportunity to enjoy flights with fewer stops and connections. The use of Beijing Capital Airport will be particularly handy for people traveling to countries like Australia, Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, Japan, and plenty of Chinese cities. The new agreement also provides the travelers with the convenience of having their luggage checked in just once, in Yekaterinburg, after which they won’t have to

MIR chain stores of consumer electronics and home appliances are closing down in Yekaterinburg. A representative of a store located at 13 Vosmoye Marta St. explained to an UrBC reporter that their store, as well as the ones located at 65 Amundsen St. and 4 Scherbakov St. would stop working by August 9, 2009. According to the official data available, MIR chain store currently runs sixty-two outlets, seventeen of which are based in Moscow, with the remaining forty-five ones operating in Russia’s major cities.

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court is to hold the main hearing of the claim laid by KAB Bank Sociйtй Gйnйrale Vostok against Pnevmostroymashina on August 31, 2009. The plaintiff insists on the defendants paying the bank 21,891,173.12 RUR and on having the defendants’ mortgaged property arrested, the spokesperson for the court informed UrBC. The preliminary hearing of the case took place on July 27, 2009. In addition to this claim, the bank wants Pnevmostroymashina and PSM-Gidravlika to pay them 111,649,309.1 RUR and to have the defendants’ mortgaged production facilities arrested.

The monthly fees charged by UralTransBank for its e-banking and m-banking services (via InterClient system) are to go up on August 1, 2009. The bank’s call center has informed an UrBC reporter that the service will now cost 1,000 RUR a month rather than the 800 RUR charged before. As it happens, the new tariffs and commissions will be applied to the following services rendered to legal entities and sole traders in the bank’s Yekaterinburg-based offices: Electronic administration of a bank account with a full set of mobile services via InterClient system; The commission taken for the

Maxi Group’s enterprises sold 6% less of bar iron and 2% less of metal goods in the second quarter of 2009 compared with a year earlier. Then, the sales of their steel feed also dropped by 53%, the Group’s press officer reports. In addition, the Group’s scrap iron division only delivered 704,000 tons of recycled scrap iron and steel, which was 18% less than in the second quarter of 2008.

Russkiy Solod placed a claim with Moscow Arbitration Court, demanding that Baltika Beer Company should pay them 2.11 billion RUR. According to RBC daily, the claim was registered in the Default on Agreement Commitments category and was related to the defendant’s alleged failure to meet its obligations as to buying malt. The malt was to be delivered in the first quarter of 2009. This claim is a build-up on last year’s cases, so now Russkiy Solod is trying to make Baltika pay them over 3.7 billion RUR. The plaintiff laid its first claim against the defendant in December 2008. The sum in

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin congratulated Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) workers and management on the recent launch of their unique plate Mill 5000 in the letter he sent to MMK BOD Chairman Viktor Rashnikov. ‘I am sincerely grateful to you and all of the enterprise’s numerous workers for the great and victorious launch of the unique Mill 5000. This is a long hoped-for, memorable, and crucial event for Chelyabinsk Region, the Russian metallurgical industry, and the entire country. This moment is made even greater by coming up at these hard times when many good

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration court settled the claim laid by UKS-Invest against Avtofrans on July 24, 2009. The plaintiff insisted on the defendant paying them 6,110,680.91 RUR, of which 5,871,434.01 RUR is the money owned by Avtofrans to the plaintiff for the jobs related to their construction agreement. The agreement was signed on January 17, 2006 and obliged UKS-Invest to finance the construction, to act as the building owner and find the contractors. The remaining 239,246.9 RUR is the interest charged for use of borrowed money between January 14, 2009 and May 28, 2009 (in compliance with

Ural Industrial Rubber Products Plant intends to cut production by 27.7%. According to the company’s General Director Sergey Vlasov, one of the business’s major problems is over-developed infrastructure and the expenses related to its maintenance. The executive informed Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for Industry and Science that they were willing to allocate more than 10,000 square meters of their premises to small and medium enterprises. As a matter of fact, the plant has let out 10,000 square meters already.

SKB-Bank’s latest Fall Money deposit (launched as recently as July 1, 2009) has already attracted over 500 million RUR worth of private customers’ investment. ‘The customers are attracted by the really appealing deposit terms: after all, we offer them a 17.01% annual interest rate after only six months of the deposit period, provided there is at least 10,000 RUR in their deposit account. Given the bank’s great dependability, this is an unprecedented offer on the market,’ says SKB-Bank’s Retail Director Tatiana Ushkova. SKB-Bank’s other recent deposit, known as Master, has caused an influx of

Uralvagonzavod Finance announced its net profits and asset value went down in the second quarter of 2009. The company explains the reason for the 88.7% decrease in the asset value was the shrinking of their long-term liabilities volume: for one, the enterprise retired its 02 bond issue worth 1,980,824,000 RUR (in terms of face value) in the second quarter of the year. As for the dropping net profits (from 11,000 RUR to 5,000 RUR), this had to do with the smaller scale of financial investment.

Bank Severnaya Kazna (the asset of Alfa-Bank) announced it was about to introduce the new monitoring and customer support modes related to the bank’s processing services. Starting July 24, 2009, no 24/7 customer support will be available any longer. The news has been reported via the bank’s official website. From this date on, the access to customer support will be provided from 9 AM to 11 PM on weekdays and from 11 AM to 11 PM on weekends.

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin said during a recent meeting with his deputies and the regional ministers that the launch of Mill 5000 at Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) was the absolute highlight of the week as well as of the year, the spokesperson for the Governor reports. ‘Head of Russian Federation Government Vladimir Putin spoke very highly of this project,’ the Governor observed. Sumin explained that his talks with the metallurgical enterprise’s representatives and their key customers made it clear that the new hot-rolled plate iron would enjoy enormous demand. The

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin declared at a recent cabinet meeting that, despite the budget deficit, 2.777 billion RUR would be allocated from the region’s budget on the top priority items apart from the current expenses such as the public sector workers’ salaries and vacation bonuses and social benefit payments. Among these top priority items are the federal cardiovascular surgery and positron emission tomography center and the regional clinical hospital’s sixth extension. Then, 200 million RUR will be directed to preparation for the heating season, 500 million RUR will be spent