'It’s true that the stock market experienced a downfall after reaching its highest-ever point, but the situation has been gradually improving over the last few days. January has been quite a peculiar month, as this was the time when RTS index plummeted down to 1,900 points after reaching 2,360.15 points as recently as December 2007. This drop can be explained by the U.S. economic problems, particularly in the business sector,’ SKB-Bank’s Trading Director Evgeniy Batuev said to UrBC. 'Most shares have been going up on the global markets lately, and many indices increase by a few

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for over 3 years went down by 81.52% (from 586.125 million RUR to 108.3 million RUR) in January-December 2007.

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development started giving considerably more loans to small and medium-scale businesses last year, so the bank’s loan portfolio grew by 75% compared to the year 2006, the bank’s press officer reports. There were several reasons for the bank to do so well in terms of business loans. Firstly, analysts claim the local small and medium-scale companies’ credit needs are only satisfied by 60% to 70%. 'Small businesses are starting to use banking services more and more often, be it leasing, factoring, Client-Bank or Internet-Bank schemes, but loans are by

According to the ranking of unit investment trusts as of January 24, 2008, the share price of BCS-Fund Index MICEX (BrokerCreditService Management Company) went down by 13.18% between January 1, 2008 and January 24, 2008.

Chairman of Moscow-based Rus-Bank Vladimir Balabanov was appointed Chairman of Ural Treasures Bank’s Board of Directors. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Balabanov was one of the BOD members. The bank’s new BOD was elected in the course of an extraordinary general meeting in October 2007. Three Rus-Bank executives were elected. These were Vladimir Balabanov, Alexander Danilin, and Veronica Urvantseva. On November 27, 2007, Rus-Bank announced it had bought a 98.42% shareholding of Ural Treasures Bank. 'Rus-Bank only entered the Urals a little while ago, so we decided to improve our position

Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service states that SverdlovEnergoSbyt, the region’s heat and electric power supplier, is guilty of violating the federal legislation on the protection of competition. According to the Service, the supplier colluded with MK Uralmetprom so that the latter could charge a certain commission while transferring the energy from the supplier to VIZ Stal and PUSK Ekb. However, any such commissions are illegitimate. Besides, SverdlovEnergoSbyt is doing business with MK Uralmetprom while ignoring the fact that Sverdlovsk Region is the area

Nizhniy Tagil Iron & Steel Works (part of Evraz Group) won five prizes in the Environmental Security 2007 contest and took part in the awarding ceremony in Yekaterinburg. Fourteen industrial enterprises, all of which are based in Ural Federal District and employ 20 to 31,000 people, participated in the competition. Nizhniy Tagil received more prizes than any other contestant: the enterprise was given three diplomas for the best corporate environmental program, the environmental management system, and waste management, as well as two second prizes for open air and surface water protection,

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by VUZ Bank to sole traders for 31 to 90 days dropped by 85.78% (from 3.48 million RUR to 495,000 RUR) in January-December 2007.

According to the rating of unit investment trusts as of January 23, 2008, the share price of BCS Oil and Petroleum Chemistry Fund (BrokerCreditService Management Company) has dropped by 13.04% since the beginning of the year.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Bank24.ru to sole traders for 181 days to 1 year despite overdraft plummeted by 40.37% (from 51.991 million RUR to 31 million RUR) in January-December 2007.

Aviaprad might close down as soon as February 1, 2008 due to financial breakdown, UrBC’s sources report. Rumor has it the carrier owes some 1 billion RUR to a number of creditors, including Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg. According to KrasAir, Aviaprad was thinking of selling the company as early as at the end of 2007. ‘Aviaprad’s shareholders suggested that we buy the business, so KrasAir and Aivaprad are now negotiating for the acquisition of the shareholding. We haven’t come up with all the details of the agreement yet, however,’ the spokesperson for KrasAir said to UrBC on December 7,

URSA Bank made 209.4 million RUR worth of first coupon payments on its seventh-issue bonds on January 24, 2008. The coupon yield was determined by the 8.4% annual interest rate, so each bond brought its owner 41.88 RUR. The bank went through with this 5-billion RUR bond issue (40700323 В) on July 26, 2007, and the bonds are to be in circulation for five years. The issue was coordinated by Renaissance Capital and Deutsche Bank. Apart from that, URSA Bank paid 28.605 million RUR to cover the fourth coupon yield on its sixth-issue bonds. The coupon yield was determined by the 7.65% annual

The Bank of Russia registered SKB-Bank’s second and third bond issues; each issue is worth 2 billion RUR and consists of 2 million bonds with face value of 1,000 RUR each. Each bond is to be in circulation for 1,099 days (3 years). Both bond issues will be available from MICEX stock exchange, and both of them are provided with six coupons each. SKB-Bank went through with its first bond issue on June 21, 2007. These bonds are to be in circulation for three years; the first coupon interest rate was determined at 9.75% a year.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Ural Innovational Commercial Bank to natural persons for 1 to 3 years went down by 75.98% (from 27.811 million RUR to 6.681 million RUR) in January-December 2007.

'We are still finding it hard to introduce the ‘green light’ in Koltsovo airport, as we arrest some customs rules violators in the green light area that we’ve got now virtually on a daily basis,’ Head of Ural Customs Administration Vladimir Sorokin announced at a press conference. According to Mr. Sorokin, a group of Chinese citizens who were trying to smuggle loads of foreign currency across the Russian state border got arrested just a few days earlier.

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development came up with more fixed-term deposit offers; for instance, their new Successful deposit is now available to all the individual customers who are willing to deposit at least 5,000 RUR/$200/200 for 186 days. The interest rate grows each month, so one would enjoy the interest rate of 15% a year in the sixth month. The beauty of this deposit scheme lies in that the interest is paid every thirty-one days and the customer is free to withdraw this sum at any given moment. If you don’t withdraw your interest, it is capitalized automatically. In case

According to the rating of unit investment trusts as of January 23, 2008, the share price of Troika Dialog Federalniy (Troika Dialog Management Company) dropped by 14.59% between January 1, 2008 and January 23, 2008.

Sberbank’s unique BLITZ money order service is becoming more and more popular. Sberbank of Russia’s Ural branch, for example, handled 10 billion RUR worth of BLITZ money orders (216,500 money orders altogether) in 2007. At the same time, the number of bank outlets in Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Kurgan Regions as well as in Bashkortostan that offer BLITZ money order services increased by 1.5 times and reached 643 terminals last year. In October 2007, BLITZ went international, so now transactions are possible for citizens of Kazakhstan as well as Russia. BLITZ is Sberbank of Russia’s express

An Interdepartmental Railway Haulage Improvement Committee meeting took place in Yekaterinburg. The meeting was chaired by acting head of Sverdlovsk Region Railways Valery Fomin. Ironically, Mr. Fomin was unable to answer the reporters’ query as to what he thought of the previous head and management’s bribe-taking practices and whether he managed to actually eliminate these practices.

'We have to check the consumer loan agreements that our customers complain about. Last year, we detected a number of mistakes and violations in some banks’ contracts, so all these banks’ cases are now being considered by the region’s Court of Arbitration,’ Consumer Rights Protection Director of Sverdlovsk Region’s division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) Natalya Afanasieva said to UrBC. The number of complaints placed by the banks’ borrowers rose by ten times last year compared to the year 2006. Head of Rospotrebnadzor Gennady Onischenko reports 1,062 claims were