Starting July 6, 2009, Bank Severnaya Kazna’s Moscow-based office located at 2 Bolshaya Tulskaya St. is to have new working hours for private customers. According to the bank’s official website, private individuals are welcome from 9 AM to 8 PM on weekdays, with no services offered on weekends, even though the office used to work with private customers on Saturdays at the time.

‘Uralvagonzavod’s General Director Oleg Sienko did not keep his promise. The enterprise did not start operating normally on July 1, 2009, and the workers are still threatened with mass redundancies,’ Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel said at the district’s crisis-defying committee meeting chaired by Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District Nikolai Vinnichenko. In the meantime, the plant’s trade union reported on July 2, 2009 that Uralvagonzavod’s management intended to lay off 15,000 workers, who would be paid two-thirds of their wages

Following the demand of Ural Federal District’s division of the General Prosecutor’s Office and the court’s ruling, Chair of Bank VEFK-Ural’s Supervisory Board Olga Chechushkova was arrested and installed in the detention facility, the spokesperson for Ural Federal District’s division of the General Prosecutor’s Office reports. The whole affair started out in March 2009 when an investigation carried out upon Deputy Prosecutor General Yuri Zolotov’s order revealed that 955.8 million RUR belonging to the Russian Federation Retirement Fund and deposited with the insolvent Bank VEFK-Ural had been

A solemn opening ceremony of Ural Airlines’ first Yekaterinburg-Beijing flight took place on July 5, 2009 in Koltsovo Airport’s airfield. The ceremony was attended by Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel, Ural Airlines’ General Director Sergey Skuratov, and the People’s Republic of China Consul for Yekaterinburg Se Tzinyn. After the symbolic red ribbon had been cut, the first flight’s 115 passengers headed for the Chinese capital at 8:20 PM. ‘Ural Airlines and its partners expect to offer the customers plenty of connecting flights from Beijing to the south-eastern parts of China as

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) won in the international Russia and the CIS Best Risk Management of the Year contest. The competition was coordinated by the Russian Risk Management Society, with the support of the Association of Regional Russian Banks, the Russian Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers, and the National Fund Association. This isn’t the first time MMK has taken part in such a contest. In fact, the enterprise’s risk management experts won prizes in 2006 and 2007. In 2006, the company also won in the Best Risk Management Project among Russian Companies contest in the

The international rating agency has recently changed AKB Absolut Bank’s D- financial stability rating’s Outlook from Stable to Negative. At the same time, the bank’s national and foreign currencies deposit rating and the Baa3/Prime-3 foreign currency debt rating’s Negative Outlooks were confirmed. So was the bank’s Aaa.ru long-term national scale rating. ‘These rating actions have to do with Moody’s concern over the potential impact Russia’s long-term economic downfall might have on Absolut Bank’s asset quality and financial development indicators, which, in its turn, will probably exert most

Rus-Rating Agency gave Moscow-based AFK Sistema BBB+ credit rating, with Stable Rating Outlook. This information is actually available via the agency’s website. Rus-Rating’s analysts believe the rating of the corporation (comprising MTS, MICEX, and other businesses) stems from its leading and stable positions on a number of markets as well as good asset quality, effective corporate management, and a lot of state support and the owner’s help. ‘On the other hand, the rating can’t grow further because of the losses some of the corporation’s members are sustaining. Besides, all of the holding’s

Uveren.ru Insurance Company (the asset of Bank24.ru) is still unable to sign any insurance contracts, the company’s press center reports. According to the call center, the insurer does not even know when the Federal Insurance Surveillance Service’s sanction is to be lifted. They do hope, however, that they will be able to function as usual as soon as next week. The company’s license was halted by the Service’s order on June 18, 2009. The decision was taken after the insurer had failed to fulfill the Service’s provisions. For one, Uveren.ru is reported to have failed to inform the Service of

Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) looked into case 49 involving accusations of Bank24.ru and ruled that the bank did violate Article 18 (part 1) of the federal advertising legislation, demanding that all the violations should be eliminated before October 10, 2009. The offense consisted in the bank’s advertising its services through text messages, which the bank’s customers never agreed to in writing. The existing law states that electronic means of communication like the telephone or mobile connections can only be used for advertising purposes if the

Rosgosstrakh-Ural, the insurance company, is to close down before January 1, 2010. The liquidation is a part of Rosgosstrakh Group’s consolidation and reorganization process, with nine regional companies (RGS-Accord, RGS-Far East, RGS-Povolzhie, RGS-North-West, RGS-Siberia, RGS-Tatarstan, RGS-Ural, RGS-Center, and RGS-South) merging with RGS-Stolitsa. Upon the completion of the merger, RGS-Stolitsa is to be called Rosgosstrakh. All of the local companies’ personnel will be re-employed by Rosgosstrakh. The process will probably have been completed by January 1, 2010.

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin approved of the set of measures meant for preparing the region’s utilities and power supply facilities for the upcoming heating season, the spokesperson for the Governor reports. According to the existing plan, heads of local municipalities must place their heating period reports with the Ministry for Construction, Infrastructure, and Roads before September 15, 2009. The reports must contain the schedule of all the washing-out operations, hydraulic pressure testing, and repairs of the heating network as well as suggestions as to creating coal, liquid

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) has recently got registered with InternationalMaterialDataSystem (IMDS). This automobile spare parts and materials database was set up in 2000 with the support and inspiration from Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford, Opel, Porsche, Volkswagen, and Volvo, who wished to have the data from the entire supplier chain systematized and united. The system now provides car manufacturers and their partners with information about all kinds of materials that are used for spare parts and car units. The IMDS was based on the European countries’ directives that require full

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) has recently got registered with InternationalMaterialDataSystem (IMDS). This automobile spare parts and materials database was set up in 2000 with the support and inspiration from Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford, Opel, Porsche, Volkswagen, and Volvo, who wished to have the data from the entire supplier chain systematized and united. The system now provides car manufacturers and their partners with information about all kinds of materials that are used for spare parts and car units. The IMDS was based on the European countries’ directives that require full

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin directed 7.5 million RUR to help make up for the damage caused by a hurricane that broke out in the region’s six districts on June 14, 2009. The hurricane, accompanied by a strong lighting storm and a hail shower, caused a lot of destruction in Argayashskiy, Etkulskiy, Varnenskiy, and Troitskiy districts as well as in Ust-Katav and Yuzhnouralsk. About a hundred houses were damaged in eleven regional towns altogether, with ruined roofs, broken electricity and water supply networks, dysfunctional railway system, and damaged crops. The towns deprived of

The Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by VUZ-Bank to non-state for-profit organizations for up to 30 days plummeted by 99.65% (from 76.062 million RUR to 260,000 RUR).

The company’s stockholders decided at the general meeting not to pay the dividend for 2008. In addition, they confirmed the enterprise’s annual report and the annual accounting report for 2008 (including the profit and loss statement for the last financial year. Then, the Board of Directors was elected, namely, A.G. Vedernikov, D.A. Verkhovtsev, A.I. Kravchenko, A.V. Malyshev, and E.P. Sulimov. Finally, Financial and Accounting Consultants Ltd was chosen as the company’s auditor.

The solemn ceremony dedicated to the launch of Ural Airlines’ first Yekaterinburg-Beijing flight is to take place in Koltsovo Airport’s airfield on July 5, 2009. The ceremony will be attended by Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel, Ural Airlines General Director Sergey Skuratov, and the People’s Republic of China Consul for Yekaterinburg Se Tzinyn. Once the symbolic red ribbon has been cut, the first flight’s passengers will head for the Chinese capital at 8:20 PM, while the remaining party will be treated to a Chinese tea ceremony in the conference hall. Ural Airlines will be

‘After Uralvagonzavod’s director cancelled temporarily most of the enterprise’s social benefits schemes, the situation grew dangerously near to a social explosion,’ head of Uralvagonzavod Scientific and Production Enterprise’s trade union Vladimir Krasnorutskov said to an UrBC reporter. As a matter of fact, the company’s managers announced at a workers’ meeting that 15,000 employees would be sent on forced leaves (with only 66% of their wages to be paid for the time being) and that all the social benefits would be called off. ‘Oleg Sienko refused to countermand the point regarding the social

Experts from Prometei Scientific Research Institute, representatives of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK), and executives from various shipbuilding enterprises met in Saint Petersburg to consider the possibility of manufacturing ship-suitable kinds of steel at MMK’s future Mill 5000, discuss the industry’s potential, and look into the areas of possible cooperation. According to MMK’s PR Department, the shipbuilding enterprises took great interest in obtaining Mill 5000 produce, as it would meet both the existing demands and the prospective ones. MMK expects to launch its plate mill

Pipe Metallurgical Company’s AGM in Moscow resulted in the shareholders’ decision to pass the dividend for 2009. Besides, the stockholders approved of the company’s annual report and the annual accounting report (including the profit and loss statement for the financial year 2008). Then, they elected the Board of Directors and the auditing committee. Ernst & Young were chosen to be Pipe Metallurgical Company’s auditor for 2009. The company’s BOD now consists of Andrei Kaplunov, Sergey Papin, Dmitriy Pumpyanskiy, Igor Kmelevskiy, Alexander Shiryaev, and five Independent Directors: