SKB-Bank’s ATM located in Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg now offers its users some European currency if they want it. This is Yekaterinburg’s first ATM to provide this service, so both the city dwellers and visitors to the Urals can now obtain some Euros right before the flight or directly upon arrival to Yekaterinburg, the bank’s press officer reports. The ATM can be found in the A sector of the airport, which means passengers, those who meet or see off their relatives and friends, and the airport staff can all use the machine at any moment to get some cash, check how much money they have

Nizhniy Tagil Iron & Steel Works was Evraz Group’s first steelmaking enterprise to develop and produce the new kinds of steel with unique chemical composition. X70 and X80 steels are meant for production of large-diameter pipes used for high-pressure gas pipelines, the spokesperson for Evraz Group said to UrBC. X70 and X80 steels are particularly suitable for high-pressure pipelines thanks to their great durability and fineness. All the samples underwent many stages of testing, so when the experts from the plant’s central lab looked at them using the high-precision binocular optical

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UralTransBank to state-run for-profit organizations dropped by 100% (from 5.4 million RUR to zero) in December 2007-January 2008.

According to the National Managers’ League’s ranking of unit investment trusts, the share price of UIF Triumfalnaya Ploschad - Russian Oil (Bank of Moscow Management Company) has gone down by 16.7% since the beginning of the year.

According to the National Managers’ League’s ranking of unit investment trusts as of February 8, 2008, the share price of CIT Fortis Index MICEX (CIT Fortis Investment Management Company) has gone down by 17.07% since the beginning of 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by VUZ Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations despite overdraft dropped by 39.81% (from 40.542 million RUR to 24.401 million RUR) in December 2007-January 2008.

Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service detected some unfair advertising practices in IKEA International Group’s chain stores, the Service’s expert Svetlana Braun said to UrBC. The Service received a complaint from a customer who borrowed 6,000 RUR for the period of ten months using IKEA’s credit card (backed up by Renaissance Capital Bank) at the end of 2006. This credit card was, in fact, part of IKEA’s New Year offer. However, the store’s advertisements failed to provide the borrowers with all the details and terms of the loans. As a result, the unfortunate

Starting February 1, 2008, Ural Treasures Bank no longer demands that all those willing to get any kind of consumer loan from the bank insure their life and health, which naturally makes consumer loans more affordable. Prior to the bank’s decision, the insurer’s fee depended on the type of loan and could amount to .8% of the total loan value.

MOTIV, the local telecommunications group, is planning to fully upgrade its own regional area network by the end of the first quarter of the year. MOTIV’s RAN will employ the so-called New Generation Network - the equipment that enables a mobile operator to offer its customers a much wider range of telecommunication services like streaming video, IP-telephone connection, and high speed Internet connection for optimizing paperwork, e-trading, distance learning, and using complex telematics-based systems. 'NGN is shaped in a way that allows one to transfer any type of information in a

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Tyumenenergobank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations despite overdraft went down by 12.01% (from 110.31 million RUR to 97.059 million RUR) in December 2007-January 2008.

According to the National Managers’ League’s ranking of unit investment trusts as of February 8, 2008, the share price of Renaissance Index RTS (Renaissance Capital Management Company) has gone down by 17.38% since the beginning of the year.

Chelyabinsk Region’s environmental prosecution authorities filed an administrative suit against Ufaleynickel and demanded that the company must stop operating. This demand stemmed from the inspection the authorities carried out on the premises of the enterprise in October 2007 to check the plant’s compliance with the environmental regulations. The inspection revealed that the enterprise dumped 3.4 times more than the maximum permissible discharge of copper oxide. Besides, Ufaleynickel is responsible for the fact that the atmospheric sulfur dioxide content in the town of Verkhniy Ufaley is

The value of net assets of Energy - Mixed Investments (the unit investment trust) managed by Eurogreen Management Company Ltd. went down by .13% between February 7, 2008 and February 8, 2008. According to Eurogreen’s website, the company’s net assets decreased from 2,987,600.68 RUR on February 7, 2008 to 2,983,748.23 RUR on February 8, 2008.

'Last year turned out to be a very difficult one. The global stock markets’ increased volatility couldn’t help affecting the Russian financial system,’ SKB-Bank’s Stock Market Operations Director Alexander Kravtsov announced at the press conference devoted to the state of Russian stock and foreign exchange markets in 2007-2008. 'However, there were some good trends as well. I can’t say I feel too positive about the current state of events, though. The Central Bank has changed its refinancing rate and expects the banks to ask for 400 billion RUR worth of refinancing, which is a lot

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) topped Russia’s best metallurgical enterprises’ rating compiled by the Metallosnabzheniye I Sbyt magazine. The magazine came up with the results of a survey aimed at determining the best Russian producers and traders on the ferrous and non-ferrous metals market in the second half of 2007. The rating was based on the questionnaires filled in by customers and market experts, and on the complex analysis of the enterprises’ activity. The magazine experts report they used criteria like the business development dynamics, shipments volume, the quality of

'Last year was a good one for METCOMBANK,’ the bank’s press officer said to UrBC. The bank’s balance sheet total rose by 68.3% in December 2007 compared to a year earlier and reached 16.2 billion RUR on December 31, 2007, while the bank’s own funds grew by 155.5% and reached 2,022 million RUR on December 31, 2007 against only 791.4 million RUR on December 31, 2006. The volume of customers’ deposits and accounts increased by 49% and amounted to 10.9 billion RUR; this figure includes a 54.8% rise in the volume of private individuals’ deposits (these reached 4.9 billion RUR) and a 45.1%

Uralmashzavod’s quality management system was successfully certified for compliance with the international ISO 9001 requirements (imposed in 2001). The auditing procedure was carried out by the world-famous Bureau Veritas Certification in December 2007, the spokesperson for Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation said to UrBC. Using the company’s quality management system (based on ISO 9001 standards) makes the enterprise more competitive as well as considerably more appealing to customers, who insist on working with companies that have been certified. After all, it is the quality of the

UC RUSAL went through with a number of new appointments: former CEO of Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant Oleg Burkatskiy was appointed CEO of UC RUSAL’s Bogoslovsky Aluminum Plant in Krasnoturinsk, Sverdlovsk Region, while former CEO of Sayanogorskiy Aluminum Plant Evgeniy Zhukov is to succeed Mr. Burkatskiy in Krasnoyarsk. At the same time, former electrolysis production director of Sayanogorskiy Aluminum Plant Evgeniy Nikitin was appointed the new CEO of Sayanogorskiy Aluminum Plant. Mr. Nikitin had been employed in the capacity of the electrolysis production director since February 2006.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Uralprivatbank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations despite overdraft went down by 50.3% (from 100.421 million RUR to 49.907 million RUR) in December 2007-January 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Ural Innovational Commercial Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations despite overdraft went down by 10.37% (from 3.347 million RUR to 3 million RUR) in December 2007-January 2008.