UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 12, 2019. MegaFon is currently updating its best-selling subscription package Vkluchaysa and launching three new package options, including the Premium one, the company’s press service reports. Customers subscribing to the new options will get a certain amount of voice calls, Internet traffic, text messages, unlimited access to messenger services and video services as well as a number of exclusive offers. One package option, for example, makes it possible to customize your package in just a couple of clicks by choosing the exact amount of Internet traffic, voice

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 12, 2019. ChelPipe Group’s member enterprise META Group sold 1,422,000,000 kg of ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metal in 2018, which exceeded the figures for 2017 by 8%. The sales included 836,000,000 kg of the company’s own scrap metal and 586,000,000 kg of transit scrap metal. According to Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant (ChelPipe) PR Group, Samaravtormet, UPN Vtorchermet, and META Perm were META’s top three member enterprises in terms of rising sales (+26,000,000 kg, +11,000,000 kg, and +6,000,000 kg, respectively). The company set up nine new scrap metal depots at

UrBC, Moscow, March 12, 2019. Russians’ daily expenses increased by 1.9% in February 2019 compared with one month previously and by 7.2% compared with one year earlier; both of these figures are, in fact, ahead of both the monthly and the annual inflation rate. According to Romir Holding’s Romir Consumer Scan Panel, Russians spent five times as much in February 2019 as could be expected based on the inflation statistics. This has been the several-year high for February so far. Moreover, people’s factual expenses were also at an all-time high. Last month’s increase in spending had to do with

UrBC, Moscow, March 12, 2019. Higher School of Economics’ analysts report that over 40% of Russians in the low-income and medium-income groups are finding it extremely difficult to handle their bank loans. Volga Federal District, Southern Federal District, and Siberian Federal District are currently the three Russian constituencies with the greatest number of loan-burdened people living there. According to Kommersant, the amount of loans issued to private customers rose by 22.8% last year, even though people’s disposable incomes declined by 0.2%. Unsecured loans make up under 50% of the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 12, 2019. 32.5% of people employed in Sverdlovsk Region’s education sector get paid under RUB 15,000 a month, RIA Rating’s research findings (based on Rosstat’s latest data) indicate. Sverdlovsk Region was No.24 in the rating based on the amount of pay its education sector workers get. 7.2% of local teachers earn more than RUB 50,000 a month; 27.7% of teachers and trainers earn more than the constituency’s average as well. Teachers’ earnings are at their highest in Moscow, where more than 60% get paid over RUB 50,000 a month, whereas Chechnya, Ingushetiya, and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 11, 2019. Best women workers got awarded at EVRAZ Holding’s EVRAZ Nizhny Tagil Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ NTMK) and Kachkanarsky Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise (EVRAZ KGOK), on International Women’s Day, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Relations Center reports. The two plants’ Managing Director Alexei Kushnarev and Chair of EVRAZ NTMK Trade Union Vladimir Radayev distributed the prizes and thank-you letters in the course of an awarding ceremony. EVRAZ NTMK’s most prestigious award for women, the First Woman Furnace Attendant Faina Sharunova Prize, gets awarded

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 11, 2019. The share of business customers setting up savings deposits online now comes to 75% of all business customers banking with the Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development (UBRD), the bank’s press service reports. According to the bank’s statistical data, business customers mostly choose iDeposit: this deposit type makes up 60.2% of all the deposits at the bank. The product is so popular because it is very easy to open: it only takes a couple of clicks in your Light e-banking system (for small businesses) or Pro system (for medium and large enterprises).

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 11, 2019. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s website came first in the rating of websites maintained by banks with HQ in the Urals and Western Siberia (based on Expert Analytical Center’s research findings), the bank’s press service reports. The website scored the most for its cleverly designed user interface and visual appeal. The content itself also got evaluated higher than the content of other banks’ websites. Expert Analytical Center looked into online platforms run by independent banks operating in the Urals and Western Siberia. The evaluation

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 11, 2019. Sverdlovsk Region is currently Ural Federal District’s No. 1 market in terms of how many new smartphones get purchased on a trade-in scheme where you can hand your old gadget in. Every one in three mobile devices bought on the program at MegaFon’s stores gets bought in Sverdlovsk Region, the company’s press service reports. Yekaterinburg and Nizhniy Tagil are the two top cities in the constituency where the largest number of old phones gets traded in; Novouralsk, Asbest, and Kamensk Uralsky come next. MegaFon’s trade-in scheme is an opportunity to sell

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 11, 2019. The very first class of ProyekTY Social Skills School had its performance assessed and its best student projects awarded in the course of a solemn ceremony at ChelPipe Group’s Training Center. According to the Group’s press service, the ceremony was attended by Managing Director of ChelPipe Group’s Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ) Alexei Dronov, Mayor of Pervouralsk Igor Kabets, and Director of Sverdlovsk Region Business Support Foundation Ilya Sulla. The school’s twenty-four students presented sixteen projects related to social services, healthcare,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 7, 2019. EVRAZ Consolidated West-Siberian Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ ZSMK) got its OR50 NT260 rails for compliance with the Russian Railways’ standards,’ EVRAZ Holding’s PR Department reports. ‘Russian Railways representatives and the plant’s own experts carried out a number of qualification tests together. Rail samples were also sent to the All-Russian Railway Research Institute (VNIIZhT), which confirmed the rails were very good quality,’ the Department says. EVRAZ ZSMK is Russia’s only enterprise that makes OR50 rails for track-switching sections of the railroad.

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, March 7, 2019. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) saved around RUB 500 million last year through a series of energy efficiency programs, MMK’s Information & PR Department reports. One such program has to do with processing and introduction of improvement proposals relating to energy efficiency. In 2016, the plant launched Ideas Management unit within its Energy Management Platform app. This made handling energy efficiency proposals more productive and made the entire process of submitting a proposal and having it launched much faster. 680 improvement proposals

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, March 7, 2019. ChelPipe Group recently published its financial report for the year 2018; the report was drawn up according to the International Accounting Standards, the company’s press service reports. According to the report, the Group sold 1,916,000,000 kg of pipes last year; 498,500,000 kg got exported and 1,417,000,000 kg got sold on the Russian market. 16.5% of all sales made by Russian pipe manufacturers got made by ChelPipe Group in 2018. The company sold more than 4,800,000 kg of stamp-welded items (fittings, joints, and T-pieces) to customers in 2018, along with

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 7, 2019. ChelPipe Group completed its investment project on upgrading Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant’s Cold-Deformed Pipe Facility, the Group’s press service reports. The Group’s member enterprise Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ) now has new stainless steel pipe treatment equipment supplied by the Czech company Prestar. The investment project required more than RUB 15 million all in all. The modern treatment unit makes it possible to cut pipes (diameter: 83 mm to 162 mm) with very high precision and at a great speed. The investment project required more than RUB 15

UrBC, Moscow, March 7, 2019. Russian State Duma adopted a bill to ban hostels in apartments and houses in the third and final reading on March 6, 2019. The news has by now been published at www.regulation.gov.ru. The bill concerns the amendments to Article 17 (Part 3) of the Russian Federation Housing Code which complement the formula ‘setting up industrial production facilities within apartments or houses is not allowed’ with ‘or hotels’. Another clause has been introduced as well: ‘The use of an apartment in an apartment building as hotel accommodation is not allowed.’ This means that, to

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 6, 2019. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development (UBRD) is now one of Russia's first banks to introduce Mir Pay for their customers. The mobile payment service has been designed by Mir to allow the cardholders to make proximity card-type payments with their smartphones. The service is now available to Mir card holders who use any Android-based (6.0 and up), NFC-supporting smartphone. According to the bank's press service, you can use any UBRD Mir card (both the proximity kind and other card types) to register with Mir Pay. Mir Pay can be used for

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 6, 2019. EVRAZ Nizhny Tagil Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ NTMK) started making fourteen new rolled steel section varieties in 2018, EVRAZ Holding Ural reports. The plant's Wheel Band Department now makes seven more kinds of rail wheels. The Heavy Mill Department makes a new semi-finished pipe variety (diameter: 156 mm). The Rail Department started making rails for the underground lines. The Beam-Rolling Department mastered three new kinds of H-beams: the UC 15K for the Russian market and НЕ260 and НЕ320 varieties that comply with the EU standards. Last year, the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 6, 2019. Students on ChelPipe Group’s Future of White-Coated Metallurgy Corporate Training Program and employees of the Group’s Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ) met the grand master of chess and multiple chess world champion Anatoly Karpov at ChelPipe Group’s Training Center. According to the Group’s press service, Karpov talked about his success story and his plans to develop his chain of children’s chess schools all over the world; he also did a Q&A session with the audience and played a game of chess with the event’s youngest attendee, a seven-year-old

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 6, 2019. Four schools built in Yekaterinburg's District Akademicheskiy meet all the modern requirements and offer excellent opportunities for studying, sports, and extracurricular activities, says Yekaterinburg Duma deputy and Director of Akademicheskiy Management Company Nikolai Smirnyagin. 'These schools excel not only in terms of furnishing and facilities but also in terms of education quality. They are now among the city's best in this respect. The student's Russian State Exam scores prove this very well: School 14, for example, has the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 6, 2019. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development (UBRD) got featured among the world’s best banks and among Russia’s top ten banks in the Forbes magazine’s recent rating, the bank’s press service reports. The rating was based on a number of ranking criteria, including customer satisfaction, trust the customers and potential customers have in the bank, service quality, digital services development, and the employees’ expertise in terms of financial advice to customers. The magazine’s analysts surveyed around 40,000 people who bank with banks from