The bank’s official website informs the customers that since March 21 and March 24, 2008 are public holidays in Germany, Severnaya Kazna is not going to handle any outward euro payments on these days. All the euro payments and stock trading operations will be performed on Tuesday, March 25, 2008, though.

RusRating confirmed the rating of SKB-Bank’s 01 ruble bond issue at BB-, Stable Outlook. All in all, the agency rated the securities of nineteen Russian banks (including three Ural ones), SKB-Bank’s press officer said to UrBC. RusRating reports the rating given to the bank’s bond issue was based on SKB-Bank’s credit rating, the lack of factors that could either enhance or minimize the risks, and the relatively unfelt influence the bonds have on the bank’s general cash flow and financial activity. According to the agency’s top executives, the ruble bond market is likely to develop very

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel held talks with a group of METRO Cash & Carry representatives headed by the company’s Director for Russia and Ukraine Andrea Martinelli. The company already runs two stores in Yekaterinburg, so the Governor suggested considering other cities in the region such as Nizhniy Tagil and Kamensk-Uralskiy. Besides, Eduard Rossel came up with the idea of putting up a logistics terminal. In the end, the parties agreed that one more store in Yekaterinburg is needed. Mr. Martinelli said the company would think about launching stores in the region’s other

‘Koltsovo airport is bound to decrease the jet fuel prices after LUKoil sets up another filling station there. It’s hard to say, however, just when this is going to happen. It will take the company between eighteen and twenty-four months at best to get all the papers ready, and about twelve months to complete the construction,’ says Aviaport Agency’s Analytics Director Oleg Panteleev. Mr. Panteleev reports LUKoil-AERO’s products can boast good quality and meet all the demands, but the prices that are great enough already will probably grow a bit higher at first for the company to get a return

SKB-Bank’s equity capital reached 5.123 billion RUR, which is over 1 billion RUR better than the figures reached by any other Sverdlovsk Region-based bank. This also makes SKB-Bank Ural Federal District’s third largest bank. Besides, this impressive result means the bank can significantly expand its business. ‘Plentiful funds guarantee a bank’s financial stability, so, having set the 5-billion-ruble record, SKB-Bank can do much more on Russia’s financial market. We are now capable of offering even more loans to both businesses and private individuals while retaining the relatively low

‘Everything Mayak Corporation says is untrue. The apartments the company was obliged to allocate to militia only concerned two newly put up buildings,’ Mayor of Yekaterinburg Arkadiy Chernetskiy claimed in the course of a monthly meeting on the local construction projects chaired by Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel. The Mayor referred to the apartment blocks in Bazoviy Lane, Yekaterinburg. Mayak Corporation’s President Marina Konkova, who made a report at the meeting as well, said the buildings couldn’t get commissioned because of the municipal authorities’ counterwork. ‘We suggest

Sverdlovsk Region has for a long time remained Ural Federal District’s leading area in terms of the number of operating banks: there are currently twenty-five of them in the region, according to the Central Bank’s report as of March 1, 2008. Tyumen Region, with its twenty-three banks, and Khanty-Mansiyskiy Autonomous Region, with its twelve banks, are the district’s second and third most developed regions in terms of banks’ presence. Sverdlovsk Region is only outstripped by Moscow, with its 554 banks, Saint Petersburg, with its forty-one banks, Dagestan, with its thirty-three banks, and

BrokerCreditService keeps using ads that fail to explain to customers that a unit investment trust’s share price can go both up and down. In the meantime, the lack of such information could mislead the customers into underestimating the risks related to investing in unit investment trusts.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Bank24.ru to sole traders for up to 30 days went down by 100% (from 50 million RUR to zero) in January-February 2008.

Ural Airlines is to start operating the carrier’s first scheduled flight to Italy on April 27, 2008 using A-320 aircraft’s business class. It will take the passengers 5 hours and 20 minutes to get from Yekaterinburg to the destination point. ‘The local business community has a lot of important ties with the Italian companies. There are five representations of foreign companies and more than ten joint ventures with Italians’ investments operating in Mid-Urals at the moment. Moreover, two Italian giants, Duferco and Stoppani, have shareholdings in Sverdlovsk Region’s major enterprises, while

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel announced in the course of a monthly meeting on the local construction projects that he decided to solve the problem of jet fuel in Koltsovo airport once and for all. ‘Ours is Russia’s most expensive jet fuel, so Ural Airlines’ aircraft get filled in Moscow now because it’s cheaper,’ the Governor said. Mr. Rossel believes an additional filling station is needed to create competition, which is expected to help the fuel price go down. The Governor said they might use LUKoil to set up the airport’s second station.

The Academic construction project manager Stanislav Pridvizhkin reported in the course of a monthly meeting on the local construction projects that their project met the schedule just fine. The construction process began in October 2007. The first part of the project to be completed will be block 2.3 - a block of 1,075 apartments and underground parking lots fit for 700 cars with all the necessary engineering, housing maintenance, public services, and commercial infrastructure. Yekaterinburg’s future district was designed so as to meet the predicted 30% increase in the number of cars used by

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) is currently implementing a new technique known as the Balanced ScoreCard System It took the company’s experts, assisted by CIFT and Deloitte Touche representatives, two years to develop this innovation that is still widely underused by Russian industrial enterprises. Launching BSC means MMK and the country’s metallurgical industry in general are improving on their management and approaching the international standards. MMK’s PR Department reports BSC makes it possible to set a company’s strategic goals in very clear figures, so every employee’s

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Uralprivatbank to natural persons for up to 30 days went down by 100% (from 850,000 RUR to zero) in January-February 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UralTransBank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for up to 30 days went down by 28.34% (from 19.93 million RUR to 14.281 million RUR) in January-February 2008.

‘Ural Airlines currently operates up to twelve flights to Moscow; now, thanks to the flights becoming more frequent, our customers can choose the best option for them and plan their business trips with the greatest possible convenience time wise,’ the airline’s press officer said to UrBC. ‘The recent increase in the number of flights involves week days mainly. The newly added flight leaves Yekaterinburg at 9.30 AM and takes off in Moscow at 11.30 AM,’ the press officer said. The company’s complete timetable is available at One can book and buy a ticket either through any of the carrier’s

‘Sverdlovsk Region received 1.650 million square meters of housing last year, while this year’s program provides for 2 million square meters of housing, 112 kilometers of highways, eight hospitals, a dozen schools, three kindergartens, and 20 kilometers of power transmission lines,’ head of the regional division of the state construction monitoring authorities Ivan Rabtsevitch announced at a press conference on March 18, 2008. ‘The region has over 2,000 construction sites at the moment, most of which have serious quality problems. About 20% of all the buildings do not meet the obligatory

VUZ Bank had 101.079 million RUR worth of overdue debt on the consumer loans offered to the bank’s customers on March 1, 2008, which is 24.31%, or 24,570,000 RUR greater than on January 1, 2008. The share of overdue debt in the bank’s loan portfolio thus came to 3.4%. This information is available from a report on the growth dynamics of consumer loan portfolios of the largest banks located in Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Tyumen Regions as well as in Perm Territory in January-February 2008. The report can be found on Bank Severnaya Kazna’s official website.

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development came up with a new offer for businesses and organizations on March 17, 2008. The new, increased interest rates on deposits mean the bank’s customers can now make the best of their capital and get the greatest return on investments. The interest rates were raised for the current Liquid and Fixed-Term deposit schemes as well as for the U.S. dollar deposits. In addition, the bank launched new attractive deposit schemes known as Great Profit and 13 for 13.

The value of net assets of BCS Oil Fund (BrokerCreditService Management Company) went down by 5.12%, dropping from 40,332,757 RUR on March 14, 2008 to 38,265,97.41 RUR on March 17, 2008. This information was published in compliance with the demand that any issuer and/or a joint stock company must promptly reveal any data related to their activity that might influence the company’s stock price.