‘Today’s technologies make it possible to collect data and manage a number of processes virtually anywhere on the globe, including Yekaterinburg. This is one of Russia’s largest cities, a major junction point as well as a logistics terminal with unique geographical position. A great many important Russian businesses’ head offices are based in Yekaterinburg,’ Oleg Borisov, the General Director of Europe-Asia, the information and consulting center, said to UrBC explaining why the company’s headquarters were located in Yekaterinburg. ‘Like in any other business, the thing that matters most is

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

Chairman of SKB-Bank Mikhail Khodorovskiy took part in the Russian economic and financial forum in Zurich, Switzerland on March 16-17, 2008. The agenda of the forum was reported to cover issues like the state of Russian economy, the country’s socio-economic developmental potential in 2008-2010, the results of the presidential and Duma election campaigns, the major development directions and challenges of Russia’s financial system (the banking and the insurance sectors), and trying aspects (including legal ones) of international economic and financial cooperation. The forum was attended by the

Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank had 32.935 million RUR worth of overdue debt on the consumer loans offered to the bank’s customers on March 1, 2008, which is 8.5%, or 2,800,000 RUR greater than on January 1, 2008. The share of overdue debt in the bank’s loan portfolio thus came to 2.9%. 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.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Uralfinprombank to sole traders for 31 to 90 days went down by 91.01% (from 18.18 million RUR to 1.635 million RUR) in January-February 2008.

‘Any asset has a price, and the shareholding of the problematic Nizhniy Tagil-based plant is no exception,’ Bank24.ru’s Deputy Chairman and CEO Boris Dyakonov said to UrBC. In the meantime, it has been unofficially reported that the bank intends to sell the plant’s shareholding it currently owns. ‘We are considering a few proposals at the moment, and some of these look suitable in terms of both the sum offered and the contractor’s reputation. Bank24.ru’s BOD members can use a number of strategies, including selling this asset, but we haven’t come up with any final decision yet,’ he added.

The construction process of MMK Atakaş A. Ş., a Russian-Turkish joint venture, began in the course of a solemn opening ceremony in Iskenderun, Turkey, the spokesperson for Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) reports. The ceremony was attended by the Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Nazým Ekren, Russian ambassador in Turkey Vladimir Ivanovskiy, MMK Chairman Viktor Rashnikov, and Atakaş CEO R. Atakaş. Mr. Rashnikov said in his welcoming remark that the project was important for both MMK and Atakaş’s strategic plans as well as for Russian-Turkish cooperation as a whole. MMK and Atakaş decided

According to the media reports, the authority of Evgeniy Terebenin, the General Director of Autoland car center, has been terminated; the company’s press officer refused to give any comments. It has been reported that Mr. Terebenin is going to become the company’s Development Director, while the center’s former Regional Director in Ufa and Magnitogorsk Konstantin Kudryavtsev is to be appointed the new GD.

Last year, Chelyabinsk Tube-Rolling Plant and Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (members of ChTPZ Group) paid 6.123 billion RUR worth of taxes, which exceeds the figures for a year earlier (5.25 million RUR) by 17%. This includes 2.485 billion directed to the federal budget, the Group’s press officer said to UrBC. Chelyabinsk Tube-Rolling Plant paid 3.191 billion RUR worth of taxes in 2007, which is nearly 1.5 times more than the 2.188 billion RUR paid in 2006; this included 1.424 billion RUR directed to the federal budget, 1.337 billion RUR transferred to Chelyabinsk Region’s budget, and 154.6

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by SberInvestBank to natural persons for 1 to 3 years went down by 30.11% (from 25.126 million RUR to 17.561 million RUR) in January-February 2008.

The value of net assets of Energy – Mixed Investments (the unit investment trust) managed by Eurogreen Management Company Ltd. went down by .39% between March 12, 2008 and March 13, 2008. According to Eurogreen’s website, the company’s net assets decreased from 2,947,296.72 RUR on March 12, 2008 to 2,935,701.17 RUR on March 13, 2008.

The results of a research conducted by the National Agency of Financial Research (NAFI) show that Russian people are most aware of fixed-term deposits and consumer loans as far as financial services are concerned. ‘One can’t help noticing that people are becoming increasingly more financially literate; they have by now realized that one does not have to save up for years to buy something one needs; taking a loan from a bank is much easier. At the same time, the days when people used to hoard their cash are gone as well. Russians are now taking advantage of bank deposits and see them as a way

‘Providing economic security is a totally new skill that one cannot pick up at the Federal Security Service or the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ schools or academies. This is a kind of expertise based on the combination of experiences and practices shared by hundreds of experts of all sorts, who have been working in the field for years and sometimes learned from their own mistakes. Nowadays, a professional economic security expert is not just a security officer but also someone with deep knowledge of business security technologies with some actual experience of putting them to practice,’ Oleg

RBC Daily’s analysts used Expert RA’s research data to compile the rating of Russia’s Top 100 Banks in 2007. According to the agency, the country’s banking system grew as dynamically as in 2006 despite the difficulties related to borrowing on foreign markets; the banks’ assets rose by 44.1% last year, which is quite comparable with 44.05% in 2006, while the market capitalization reached 57%, which is 6% better than in 2006. As for the rating, only three Yekaterinburg-based banks actually managed to hit it; the Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development could boast the greatest asset volume

MOTIV, one of Sverdlovsk Region’s leading mobile operators, is currently operating in 510 cities and towns within the region, while the number only came to 453 as recently as six months ago; so, the company’s network has grown by 12.6% since September 2007. Most of the newly covered towns (twenty-three places) are located in the east of Sverdlovsk Region, particularly in Pyshminskiy and Talitskiy districts; the rest of the towns and villages are situated in the north-east of the region (Irbitskiy, Slobodo-Turinskiy, and Tavdinskiy districts), in the north (Verkhoturskiy, Gornouralskiy,

‘If the state, represented by Rosimuschestvo, decides to cancel its renting agreement with Koltsovo airport, it absolutely does not have to sign a new agreement with the airport rather than anyone else,’ Intellect-C’s Legal Safety Director Roman Rechkin said to UrBC. In the meantime, Rosimuschestvo filed a complaint with Sverdlovsk Region Court of Arbitration regarding the need to cancel its renting agreement with Koltsovo airport. The premises in question include the state-owned runways and other objects. Mr. Rechkin believes the airport has no priority rights whatsoever, as these rights are

‘There are plenty of locals, as well as dwellers of Moscow and Saint Petersburg (some high-ranking government officials among them), who’ve lost their money through the so-called Kalinichenko pyramid scheme,’ Director of NAUFOR’s (the National Association of Securities Market Participants) Ural branch Radik Akhmetshin announced in the course of a press conference on pyramid schemes and the state control over financial and investment institutions. ‘The last alleged location of Mr. Kalinichenko I’ve heard about was Cyprus or Italy; his mobile phone is turned off, his cottage in the vicinity of

Sberbank’s Ural branch keeps cooperating with more and more businesses and organizations whose services can be paid for through Sberbank’s ATMs and information stalls. To date, twenty-six organizations based in Sverdlovsk Region accept private individuals’ payments through Sberbank’s ATMs. This includes housing and phone bills, cable TV, natural gas supply, road police’s tickets, and much else besides. Moreover, the payment-maker can either use his or her international bank card or pay in cash using a self-service unit or a cash-accepting ATM. At the moment, Sberbank runs the region’s largest

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel chaired a meeting devoted to the region’s cooperation with Itera O&G Company. The meeting was attended by Itera’s Chairman Vladimir Makeev. One of the points on the meeting’s agenda was related to the local consumers’ three-billion-ruble debt. The housing maintenance and utilities services’ debt for natural gas consumption, for instance, has grown by over 1 billion RUR since last fall, the city of Nizhniy Tagil being Itera’s greatest debtor. The debt issue was initially considered at the Governor’s Social Security Council’s meeting in the fall

‘Frankly speaking, I wouldn’t publish an ad that promises a 195% increase in the share price in three years if I ran BrokerCreditService. This promise is partly true, but it is partly untrue as well. I’m not sure how the company did its calculations, but, in whichever case, any fund has both successful and less successful investors, all of whom invest in different things. BrokerCreditService could claim the figure denotes the profit the most successful investor would manage to make, while the less successful investors would make less or none,’ Director of NAUFOR’s (the National Association of