The volume of private individuals’ deposits in Koltso Urala Bank has gone down by 13% since September 2008. These data are available from Bankir.ru’s report on the performance of Top 200 banks with the greatest volumes of private individuals’ deposits.

Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Viktor Koksharov held a meeting on the region’s industrial development with a number of other officials, including First Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government and Minister for Industry and Science Anatoly Gredin, the representatives of the Federal Taxation Service’s regional division, and some business executives. One of the points on the meeting’s agenda had to do the agreements existing between Maxi Group and Novolipetsk Iron & Steel Works (NLMK). Viktor Koksharov observed the Group’s stockholders’ efficient interaction was a crucial factor in

MMK announces that as of Feb 25, 2009 it has fulfilled its obligations on dividends payout for the first six months of 2008. The decision on dividend payment in the amount of RUR 0.382 per ordinary share was taken by the Extraordinary Shareholders’ Meeting on August 29, 2008. The total amount of dividends accrued is RUR 4.268.594.060,00. Major shareholders of MMK – Mintha Holding Limited and Fulnek Enterprises Limited, both beneficially owned by MMK Chairman of the Board of Directors Mr. Rashnikov, – proposed that the share of accumulated dividends which was to be paid to them during the

‘Historically, and due to the peculiarities of our top industries, Chelyabinsk Region has grown to greatly depend on the global market opportunities, that is, on the export and metal prices. The current crisis isn’t the price we have to pay for being concentrated on the metallurgical sector. This is the price of global market integration. However, we’d be forced to pay even more dearly if we steered clear of new technologies, of foreign economic connections, and of the global trade and production experience,’ Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin declared during his annual address to the

‘Chelyabinsk Region’s real sector is going through hard times at the moment. This January, the local enterprises’ production output has dropped by 22.5% compared with December 2008. Companies find themselves increasingly incapable of paying one another for goods and services,’ Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin declared during his annual address to the Legislative Assembly and the region’s dwellers. Sumin feels that the companies might operate stably again and restore their production and sales outputs if they focus on making Chelyabinsk Region more appealing to investors through

‘The agribusiness industry’s sustainable development is our top priority at the moment,’ Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin said in the course of his annual address to the Legislative Assembly deputies. The Governor reported the year 2008 and overall a good one for the local agricultural enterprises, whose production output came to more than 63.5 billion RUR. Then, 120,000 hectares of land were re-cultivated, with another 200,000 hectares to be re-cultivated over the next two or three years. In addition, the regional poultry output rose by over one-third in 2008, reaching 142,000 tons.

‘The small businesses have been faced with the banks’ less friendlier lending policies, greater interest rates, lack of floating assets, dropping demand, and higher rent,’ Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin declared during his annual address to the Legislative Assembly and the region’s dwellers According to the Governor, the region’s small business will be aided in several ways: less red tape, tax relief, financial aid, and cheaper connection to the technological infrastructures (the hookup price is expected to drop by five to seven times). ‘The regional government has already helped

The volume of private individuals’ deposits in Uralfinprombank had gone down by 9% since September 2008. These data are available from Bankir.ru’s report on the performance of Top 200 banks with the greatest volumes of private individuals’ deposits.

The volume of Bank Severnaya Kazna’s private individuals’ deposits had gone down by 22% since September 2008. These data are available from Bankir.ru’s report on the performance of Top 200 banks with the greatest volumes of private individuals’ deposits.

The volume of private individuals’ deposits in Bank24.ru had dropped by 20% since September 2008. These data are available from Bankir.ru’s report on the performance of Top 200 banks with the greatest volumes of private individuals’ deposits.

The Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Sberinvestbank to non-state for-profit organizations despite overdraft had plummeted by 58.34% (from 21.066 million RUR to 8.774 million RUR) by January 1, 2009.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Tagilbank to sole traders for up to thirty days had gone down by 100% (from 2 million RUR to zero) by January 1, 2009.

According to the Central bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Sberinvestbank to non-state for-profit organizations for 31 to 90 days had gone down by 90 million RUR (from 90 million RUR to zero) by January 1, 2009.

The Supervisory Board of Bank VTB 24 decided to convert some of its regional subsidiaries into simple operational offices. The decision to this extent involved the bank’s branches in Kazan, Perm, Kemerovo, Cherepovets, Nizhniy Novgorod, and Irkutsk.

Renaissance Credit Commercial Bank suggests that its customers pay off their loans in advance, so that the bank could buy out its own bonds it order to relieve is liabilities burden, Kommersant reports. A number of Renaissance Credit Bank’s borrowers have already received text messages with early payment proposals, while the bank’s hotline clerks explain to all the callers that the interest rate on the existing loans might be raised because of the economic crisis. Incidentally, this would fit in the framework of the loan agreement terms, the newspaper says.

Sberbank of Russia’s Ural branch sold over $60m worth of American Express checks in 2008. This means that these traveler’s checks’ sales have increased by more than nine times over the last five years, while the share of euro checks doubled and now comes to 30% of the total check volume. Traveler’s checks are most often used on trips and during some business transactions carried out abroad (like buying a car or a fur coat), since no limit is set on the amount of money one could carry abroad in the TC format. Then, some customers prefer to keep their savings in the form of traveler’s checks

Ural Airlines has recently gone for a price decrease on Moscow-bound flights. The tickets for flights operated on February 21-24, 2009 and March 7-10, 2009 will be available for only 1,800 RUR (per single ticket, excluding the adjustment rate). The special price is offered on both Yekaterinburg-Moscow and Moscow-Yekaterinburg flights, the company’s press officer reports. Tickets can be booked and bought via the airline’s website ( www.uralairlines.com), at the carrier’s booking offices, and authorized agents’ offices.

The Central Bank of Russia reports the volume of loans given by Plato Bank to non-state for-profit organizations for 1 to 3 years had gone down by 22.77% (from 31.973 million RUR to 24.69 million RUR) by January 1, 2009.

‘The current laws that regulate the security agencies’ activity in Russia are really out of date and need to be replaced. However, the proposed changes meet neither these agencies’ needs nor the dictates of the time,’ says Oleg Borisov, General Director of Europe-Asia Information and Consulting Center, President of Ural Center of Nongovernmental Security Institutions Association, and member of the Academy of Security, Defense and Law-and-Order. Borisov comments upon the legislation enforced in February 2009: ‘As a matter of fact, the new law limits the private security agencies’ options and

Moody’s (the international rating agency) has recently downgraded Alfa-Bank’s financial stability rating from D+ to D. At the same time, the bank’s foreign and national currency deposit ratings were affirmed at Ва1/Not, Prime, while its subordinated debt rating (in foreign currency) was also affirmed at Ва1. Nevertheless, all of these ratings have been placed on the Rating Watch, with Negative Rating Outlook. Moody’s explains the rating demotion has to do with the increasingly troubled state of the Russian macro-economy, which, in its turn, leads to the weakening of businesses’ assets. The