A special offer for shoppers will be available at Sberbank’s Ural branch from September 1, 2008 to October 31, 2008. All you have to do is use the bank’s card any time you purchase anything that costs 300 RUR or more. Eight most regular card users will be presented with travel certificates, while another 2,000 cardholders will get 300 RUR in their bank card accounts, the spokesperson for the bank says. All the holders of Sberbank’s Ural branch’s cards are most welcome to take advantage of this special offer, valid throughout Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Kurgan Regions and in Bashkortostan.

VIZ Stal delivered a formal statement regarding the acquisition of 70.93% shareholding in Verkh-Isetskiy metallurgical plant.

Ural Treasures Bank introduced CyberPlat, the e-payment system, on August 27, 2008. The system has been around for over nine years now and is Russia and the CIS’ largest service of this kind. It’s also one of the most reliable and smooth-operating ones, the bank’s press officer says. CyberPlat terminals have been installed in the following offices: 14 Gagarin St. Yekaterinburg; 136 Lunacharskiy St. Yekaterinburg; 41 Sacco & Vanzetti St. Yekaterinburg; 13 VIZ Boulevard Yekaterinburg; 476 Volgogradskaya St. Yekaterinburg; 17 Academik Schwarz St. Yekaterinburg; 32 Griboedov St.

RBC.Rating came up with the results of Russian banks’ performance in the first half of 2008. In addition to the other research aspects, the agency’s analysts looked into the banks’ advance portfolios and rated the companies on the basis of these and using the credit loss criterion. SKB-Bank was given the 11th position on the list of banks with minimum losses. RBC.Rating reports the bank’s loan portfolio losses were close to zero percent (the actual figure came to about 1 million RUR over January-August 2008). To compile the rating, RBC.Rating’s analysts used off-balance sheet accounts 917 and

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Tagilbank to non-state for-profit organizations for 91 to 180 days dropped by 67.35% (from 21.44 million RUR to 7 million RUR) in January-August 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Ural Innovational Commercial Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations despite current account’s overdraft plummeted by 100% (from 3 million RUR to zero) in January-August 2008.

According to the Modern Urban Infrastructure Research Institute’s survey, 78% of Yekaterinburg’s dwellers believe transportation problems are the city’s principal trouble at the moment. 72% feel the main problems are of environmental nature, while 45% of respondents claim a modern and accessible social infrastructure is needed badly, that is, new hospitals, kindergartens, and schools. As for the good things about the city, the locals report employment and entertainment opportunities are Yekaterinburg’s strongest points, with 52% and 50% of respondents ranking these as the city’s top bonuses,

‘The bank and business cooperation is one of the oldest Russian banking market’s sectors and is also one of the most conservative ones. The latest breakthrough in the field occurred even before the banking crisis of 1998 and consisted in the introduction of a 24/7 remote banking service targeted at saving the bank and the customers’ time. As for the decade that followed, despite the soaring loan volumes offered to small and medium enterprises, all the so-called innovations were merely an adaptation of earlier (and better) policies. There is a reason for this: most banks have already acquired

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development was Sverdlovsk Region’s No.1 bank in terms of asset volume in the first half of 2008, RosBusinessConsulting reports. The bank’s net assets reached 46.583 billion RUR on July 1, 2008, which is the 59th best result among Russia’s top 100 banks and the best result among all the Ural ones. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s net assets went up by 56.2% compared to July 1, 2008, so the bank was therefore promoted by eight positions in the Top 100 rating over one year, the bank’s press officer reports. This dramatic business expansion

Ural Airlines’ employees decided to donate their day’s pay to war victims in South Ossetia. ‘Even though the war is over, thousands of people have lost their relatives as well as their homes. Russia has welcomed over 34,000 refugees already. The children are having a particularly hard time, as they need the adults’ help. This is why we transferred our day’s pay to the account meant for the children of South Ossetia. The idea was originally proposed by the company’s management and supported by flight attendants, pilots, and air-technical safety specialists,’ Ural Airlines’ press officer says.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service declared on September 1, 2008 that TEZ Tour, the major tour operator, violated Article 5 (parts 2 and 3) of the federal advertising legislation with ‘undue advertisements’. The inquiry into the case started after Rostourism and Intourist complained about TEZ Tour’s Channel 1 ad that said the company was ‘No.1 Tour Operator’. The Federal Antimonopoly Service found the advertisement improper and insisted on discontinuation of the offense. Article 5, part 2 of the federal advertising act says an advertisement in which the product advertised is inappropriately

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by VUZ-Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for up to 30 days went down by 64.64% (from 20.15 million RUR to 7.125 million RUR) in January-August 2008.

Sverdlovsk Region Court of Arbitration’s first hearing of the claim laid by Koltsovo Airport of Yekaterinburg against Domodedovo Airlines has been scheduled for October 3, 2008. Koltsovo Airport insists on getting 23.75 million RUR worth of debts the airline owes the airport for ground handing services and operations.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for up to 30 days dropped by 27.81% (from 27.708 million RUR to 20 million RUR) in January-August 2008.

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel had a meeting with Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland during his visit to Finland. The Governor informed the Finnish official that Sverdlovsk Region hosted fifteen foreign consulates at the moment and suggested that the Finnish authorities should consider introducing a consulate in Yekaterinburg. ‘Our experience has shown that the setting up of a country’s consulate usually boosts the development of the two areas’ trade and economic relations as well as all the other forms of cooperation,’ Eduard Rossel said. The

Starting September 3, 2008, Ural Airlines’ customers can use the new international Yekaterinburg-Helsinki-Yekaterinburg flight the carrier is to operate under the code sharing agreement they have with Finn Air. The flights will be operated three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays using foreign aircraft. The planes take off in Yekaterinburg at 6.50 AM and arrive in Helsinki at 7 AM; the flight lasts 2 hours and ten minutes, Ural Airlines’ press officer reports. ‘The preliminary negotiations regarding the code sharing agreement were held in May 2008, yet some additional

MegaFon, the major telecommunications provider, announced they have signed the official agreement with Apple Inc. regarding iPhone 3G’s sales in Russia. ‘The fist iPhones will hit the stores as soon as this year,’ the company’s press officer said to an UrBC reporter.

‘EvrazHolding’s personnel policy is based on two principles: offering appealing terms to highly skilled workers and improving on the personnel quality,’ EvrazHolding’s Vice President for Personnel Natalya Ionova said in the course of an online conference. ‘The company keeps cooperating with a number of vocational schools and colleges, so the number of our experts is ever-increasing despite the country’s challenging demographics,’ she added. ‘We are paying a good deal of attention to staff retraining, for instance, through a special program that helps our workers to both improve on their

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel had a meeting with Minister for Employment and Economic Development Mauri Pekkarinen during his visit to Finland. In the course of the meeting, the Governor suggested that FinnAir might be interested in operating a number of transit flights bound for Korea, Japan, and other countries of Asia-Pacific Region through Yekaterinburg

The new German Consul General in Yekaterinburg Renate Schimkoreit came into office in September. Dr. Schimkoreit, the political science and economic expert, got her PhD in 1982 and has been involved in the diplomatic service since 1988. She was employed in diplomatic missions in Jordan, China, Senegal, Luxembourg, and Turkey. During her office in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs HQ in Berlin, Dr. Schimkoreit was primarily dealing with the issues related to the European Union’s economic and political strategies. She speaks English, French, Turkish, and Arabic and is currently learning Russian.