UC RUSAL set up a number of Social Welfare Project Center subsidiaries in Sverdlovsk Region. The events were coordinated by representatives of local governments, small and medium-scale business executives, members of regional NGOs, and educational establishments in Severouralsk, Krasnoturinsk, and Kamensk-Uralskiy. UC RUSAL's local press officer Roman Lukichev says the company is planning on implementing seven charity projects in Sverdlovsk Region, to be coordinated by the Social Welfare Project Center. The local subsidiaries are expected to provide the authorities with all the data

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Uralprivatbank to natural persons for 181 days to 1 year went down by 64.75% (from 35.041 million RUR to 12.351 million RUR) in January-October 2007.

Federal Antimonopoly Service’s division in the Republic of Bashkortostan declared that Bank UralSib had violated the federal Competition Protection Act, the spokesperson for the Service reports. As it happens, the bank never provided the Service with any data on the agreements it signed with the executive authorities, local governments, or other entities, claiming that these agreements were not subject to the antimonopoly agency’s surveillance. At the same time, Bank UralSib’s office in Ufa provided the Service with copies of 113 agreements. Nevertheless, the Federal Antimonopoly Service’s

Sverdlovsk Region’s foreign trade turnover went up by 23.4% in January-October 2007 compared to January-October 2006 and reached $8.2bn, the spokesperson for the Governor reports. The region’s export figures rose by 21.6% in the ten months of 2007 against a year earlier, amounting $6.5bn, whereas the share of imported goods increased by 30.5% and came to $1.8bn worth of products.

A number of local taxi services announced they were raising prices; owner drivers followed suit. ‘It’s true that taxis have grown pricier lately, mainly due to the winter season and lots of traffic jams in Yekaterinburg. It’s a bit early to speak of an increase in the fuel prices yet, but they do tend to go up. We had to raise our fares by 5-7% about a week ago,’ acting director of Taxi Troika Ltd Sergey Istomin said to UrBC. ‘Our reasons for doing so had to do with the lack of financial motivation on the drivers’ part. Given the time they waste in the traffic jams, they lose a lot of money

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Bank UralSib to state-run for-profit organizations for 91 to 180 days went down by 61.12% (from 131.3 million RUR to 51.056 million RUR) in January-October 2007.

‘The new rules mean that a customer must, in fact, offer a loan of sorts to a car showroom in return for the automobile - but only after quite a long period of time. However, unlike with a real loan, a customer cannot possibly hope to get any interest, which means he or she is the one who’ll have to take all the risks related to price fluctuations and flexible exchange rates,’ Unicom Partner Universal Investment Company’s Asset Management Director Vitaliy Kalugin said to UrBC. Mr. Kalugin referred to the fact that in Yekaterinburg, a customer might now have to wait for up to a year before

Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg was forced to stop servicing all flights from 1 PM to 4 PM on November 19, 2007 due to bad weather conditions. The airport runway was partly covered with a film of ice, so the safety of flights could not possibly be ensured. The decision regarding a temporary halt was taken by the leading executive of Ural Flight Navigation’s Yekaterinburg branch, the airport’s press officer reports. Koltsovo airport resumed all of its services at about 3 PM after the runway had been cleared up, yet 6 planes (496 passengers) waiting to arrive and 9 planes (738 passengers)

Sverdlovsk Hotel was sold for 533.35 million RUR: 100% of the business’s stock (namely, 2,760,076 shares with face value of 10 RUR each) were put up to auction at an opening bid of 527 million RUR. The decision to sell the hotel was taken by Yekaterinburg’s municipal council in June 2007.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of call loans given by TyumenEnergoBank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations went down by 56.15% (from 4.03 million RUR to 1.767 million RUR) in January-October 2007.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Universal Commercial Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 1 to 3 years went down by 47.17% (from 12.303 million RUR to 6.5 million RUR) in January-October 2007.

The value of net assets of Energy - Mixed Investments (the unit investment trust) managed by Eurogreen Management Company Ltd. went down by .75%% between November 14, 2007 and November 15, 2007. According to Eurogreen’s website, the company’s net assets decreased from 3,926,490.76 RUR on November 14, 2007 to 3,897,074.72 RUR on November 15, 2007.

Rostourism reports the number of all trips abroad Russian citizens made in January-September 2007 came to 26,363,435; this exceeds the figures for a year earlier by 18%. Russians’ holiday travel went up by 22%, with most people going to Thailand (75% more trips were made there compared to 2006), Israel (56% more trips), Austria (41% more trips), Italy (35% more trips), Tunisia (35% more trips), Switzerland (30% more trips), and China (24% trips).

SKB-Bank’s consumer loan portfolio exceeded 10.2 billion RUR on November 1, 2007, making the bank the Urals’ third largest retail crediting organization. In addition, SKB-Bank is No.1 in terms of consumer lending among all the Ural banks. The volume of SKB-Bank’s consumer loans has already doubled against the beginning of the year. At the same time, the bank was able to keep its credit risks low, while the share of bad or overdue debt only comes to 2%. Consumer loans have been enjoying great demand this year, even though number of loans the banks are willing to give tends to go down lately.

A number of local taxi services announced they were raising prices; owner drivers followed suit. ‘It’s true that taxis have grown pricier lately, mainly due to the winter season and lots of traffic jams in Yekaterinburg. It’s a bit early to speak of an increase in the fuel prices yet, but they do tend to go up. We had to raise our fares by 5-7% about a week ago,’ acting director of Taxi Troika Ltd Sergey Istomin said to UrBC. ‘Our reasons for doing so had to do with the lack of financial motivation on the drivers’ part. Given the time they waste in the traffic jams, they lose a lot of money

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Bank UralSib to state-run for-profit organizations for 91 to 180 days went down by 61.12% (from 131.3 million RUR to 51.056 million RUR) in January-October 2007.

‘The new rules mean that a customer must, in fact, offer a loan of sorts to a car showroom in return for the automobile - but only after quite a long period of time. However, unlike with a real loan, a customer cannot possibly hope to get any interest, which means he or she is the one who’ll have to take all the risks related to price fluctuations and flexible exchange rates,’ Unicom Partner Universal Investment Company’s Asset Management Director Vitaliy Kalugin said to UrBC. Mr. Kalugin referred to the fact that in Yekaterinburg, a customer might now have to wait for up to a year before

Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg was forced to stop servicing all flights from 1 PM to 4 PM on November 19, 2007 due to bad weather conditions. The airport runway was partly covered with a film of ice, so the safety of flights could not possibly be ensured. The decision regarding a temporary halt was taken by the leading executive of Ural Flight Navigation’s Yekaterinburg branch, the airport’s press officer reports. Koltsovo airport resumed all of its services at about 3 PM after the runway had been cleared up, yet 6 planes (496 passengers) waiting to arrive and 9 planes (738 passengers)

Sverdlovsk Hotel was sold for 533.35 million RUR: 100% of the business’s stock (namely, 2,760,076 shares with face value of 10 RUR each) were put up to auction at an opening bid of 527 million RUR. The decision to sell the hotel was taken by Yekaterinburg’s municipal council in June 2007.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of call loans given by TyumenEnergoBank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations went down by 56.15% (from 4.03 million RUR to 1.767 million RUR) in January-October 2007.