‘The news of JP Morgan Chase & Co’s upcoming acquisition of Bear Stearns, an investment company, was definitely last week’s greatest highlight. Bear Stearns had nearly collapsed due to liquidity problems earlier, so the urgency of the transaction resulted in investor panic that only cooled off after the U.S. Federal Reserve System made some comforting promises,’ SKB-Bank’s Trading Operations Director Evgeniy Batuev says. ‘Moreover, these events have led traders all over the world to believe that no big upheavals are to be expected in the nearest future. The Monday statistics on sales in

A number of Yekaterinburg car centers’ top executives and Chairman of Yekaterinburg Consumer Rights Committee coordinated a round table discussion on whether being a car dealer is easy at one of the local press centers. The points on the agenda included issues like the local automobile market’s saturation, the quality of the supplied cars, and some other points. One of the quests who failed to arrive was Natalya Nagornova, Autoland’s Marketing and Advertising Director, but she never showed up, thus proving once again that this car dealer tends to lack informational transparency and is

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development is now willing to consider loan applications from any entrepreneur located within the bank’s operating area. Besides, the amount of money one could borrow and the terms of paying it back have been both enlarged: the payment period for the Business Express scoring loan has been extended to two years, whereas the maximum amount of money the bank could give you now comes to up to 1,000,000 RUR if you haven’t got some nice credit record to produce and up to 1,500,000 RUR for the Simplified loan scheme and for any kind of unsecured loan. Moreover,

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of natural persons’ deposits in Uralprivatbank valid for 1 to 3 years went down by 7.97% (from 415.457 million RUR to 382.339 million RUR) in January 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Tyumenenergobank to natural persons for 31 to 90 days plummeted by 100% (from 5 million RUR to zero) in January-February 2008.

Aston’s official website reports the builder is working on Nakhimov Plaza, an office and trade center at 9 Vainer St. At the moment, the construction process does not appear to be progressing. Remarkably, until very recently, the billboard next to the construction site used to state that the project was being implemented by Ural-VEM and PremierStroy and was to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2007. However, even the preliminary construction stages like concrete ceilings and outer walls haven’t been done yet. Aston’s website does not provide any information as to when the construction

MegaFon Ural will start offering its customers a new kind of bonus on April 1, 2008. One will be able to use ten minutes worth of outgoing calls for free, using 25 bonus points, MegaFon Ural’s press officer reports. A company’s subscriber can activate the offer by dialing 115 5# or by sending a text message (210) at 5010. The offer will be valid for 60 days from the moment of activation. Besides, you can always share your bonus with another MegaFon Ural’s subscriber.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UralTransBank to sole traders for 31 to 90 days went down by 50.82% (from 105.975 million RUR to 52.122 million RUR) in January-February 2008.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Bank24.ru to sole traders for 1 to 3 years went down by 16.22% (from 107.916 million RUR to 90.417 million RUR) in January 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by VUZ Bank to sole traders for 181 days to 1 year went down by 8.36% (from 84.606 million RUR to 77.529 million RUR) in January 2008.

Ural Airlines introduced the new tariffs for its Yekaterinburg-Moscow-Yekaterinburg flights on March 25, 2008. The cost of the ticket now depends on how early you book, the airline’s press officer reports. If a passenger books a ticket twenty-five days before the flight, the cost of a single ticket will come to 2,200 RUR (excluding the fuel fee). If you book a fortnight before the flight, a single ticket will cost you 2,950 RUR (excluding the fuel fee), whereas, if you book within ten days of the flight, the ticket will come at a price of 3,800 RUR (excluding the fuel fee). This means that

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in Bank URALSIB valid for 31 to 90 days went down by 67.28% (from 2,960,074,000 RUR to 968,371,000 RUR) in January 2008.

‘Last year, Ford was only the third best-selling car in Ural Federal District; this brand was preceded by Toyota and Chevrolet, despite the fact that Ford is normally number one or two in other parts of Russia,’ Capital reports. The newspaper says this could be the reason for Autoland’s GD Evgeniy Terebenin’s recent demotion. ‘Mr. Terebenin was unofficially reported to be demoted due to the customers’ numerous complaints. At the same time, the market players feel the consumer dissatisfaction has nothing to do with it. They believe one of the holding’s proprietors started experiencing problems

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Uralfinprombank to natural persons for up to 30 days went down by 100% (from 38.85 million RUR to zero) in January 2008.

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) BOD held a meeting on March 21, 2008; the meeting resulted in the decision to suggest that the enterprise’s shareholders distribute their losses and profits in the course of the AGM and declare the registered ordinary share dividends (.502 RUR per share). In addition, the BOD set up a twenty-three member Supervisory Board and came up with the list of data the shareholders must be provided with prior to the annual general meeting. Besides, the directors approved of the reports on the implementation of their decisions and sub-committees’ performance as

The Ministry for International and Foreign Economic Relations of Sverdlovsk Region published some data on the region’s socioeconomic development in January-February 2008. The region’s foreign trade turnover reached $837.3m in January 2008, which is 27.3% better than a year earlier. These figures include $624.3m worth of exported goods (which exceeds the figures for January 2007 by 17.4%) and $213m worth of imported goods (which is 68.6% more than last January).

‘At the moment, Tyumenenergobank’s top executives are still considering the acquisition of Eurogreen Investment Company’s 50% shareholding,’ Tyumenenergobank’s press officer Ainur Vaitovitch said to UrBC. According to the media reports, Eurogreen’s management is currently negotiating with the Russian banks, hoping to sell half of the company’s stock. Tyumenenergobank is reported to be one of the prospective buyers. ‘The bank is trying to look into Eurogreen’s proposal and take the existing market opportunities into account. The final decision will probably be made in early April,’ Ms

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Sverdovsk Gubernskiy Bank to non-profit NGOs for 181 days to 1 year went down by 33.33% (from 12 million RUR to 8 million RUR) in January-February 2008.

SKB-Bank keeps expanding its subsidiary network in Khanty-Mansiyskiy Autonomous Region by introducing more and more offices. The newest one is now located in Nyagan and can be found at 15 Lenin St. The bank’s new office can offer customers a full range of banking services like deposits for legal entities and private individuals, keeping, administration, and settlement of their accounts, and cash services. In addition, the office will be handling money orders, too. The outlet is to be run by the bank’s Regional Development Director Vyacheslav Bartkov. ‘The introduction of a new office is one

‘We’ve never had any problems with the Ural Customs Administration in general or with Koltsovo airport’s customs in particular, as we are not doing business with them directly but use intermediary suppliers instead,’ Mikhail Kovalev, the chef working at Troekurov (Resta Management) said to UrBC. In the meantime, Yekaterinburg’s restaurateurs were reported by some media to have consulted the city’s Vice Mayor Viktor Konteev, whose press officer was allegedly complaining about the long hours it took to do customs clearing of fresh seafood in Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg (despite the