Olips, a developer from Yekaterinburg responsible for the Dirigible Mall project, is about to start making the design and concept of the mall (developed by Cushman&Wakefield Stiles&Riabokobylko) a reality. Firstly, the company needs to put up an extension to the existing mall: a three-storey building with the total area of 48,740 square meters with a gallery that will connect it to the older building. The ground floor will be given to a hypermarket, the other two floors are meant for shops and entertainment. There are going to be 32,000 square meters to rent altogether. In addition,

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 31 to 90 days went down by 75.23% (from 176.067 million RUR to 43.606 million RUR) in January-October 2007.

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development raised its core capital and was therefore promoted to the 86th position in Interfax-CEA’s Russia’s Top 100 Largest banks rating. According to this rating, the bank’s core capital amounted to 2,774,900,000 RUR on October 1, 2007, which was 26.3% better than at the beginning of 2007. 'Bank capitalization growth can be observed throughout the entire country; banks need to survive despite the fierce competition and the customers’ growing demands, so they are trying to accumulate some assets of their own,’ the Ural Bank for Reconstruction and

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by VUZ Bank to sole traders for 31 to 90 days went down by 34.71% (from 3.48 million RUR to 2.272 million RUR) in January-October 2007.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by AGROPROMBANK Credit to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 91 to 180 days went down by 43.64% (from 770.281 million RUR to 434.158 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 .08% between November 6, 2007 and November 7, 2007. According to Eurogreen’s website, the company’s net assets decreased from 4,043,827.89 RUR on November 6, 2007 to 4,040,717.02 RUR on November 7, 2007.

‘Egypt is the most affordable holiday destination today, which is why the demand this place enjoys is enormous. However, the country’s hotels have a somewhat limited capacity, so not all those willing to spend a few days in Egypt can find a place to stay. So far, the problem has affected travel agents from Saint Petersburg and Moscow, whereas Yekaterinburg ones are doing okay for the time being,’ Director of Inna Tour Travel Agency Inna Averyanova said to UrBC. ‘Usually, these are the travel agents who haven’t made enough hotel reservations in advance who have a hard time placing their

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by AGROPROMBANK Credit to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 91 to 180 days went down by 43.64% (from 770.281 million RUR to 434.158 million RUR) in January-October 2007.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Ural Innovational Commercial Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for up to 30 days went down by 100% (from 1 million RUR to zero) in January-October 2007.

‘If you don’t want to arrive in a foreign country only to find that the hotel room you’ve paid for has been offered to someone else, just stick with dependable travel agents. A respectable company signs certain agreements with the hotels; the terms of these agreements are both strict and clear, so any chance of leaving a traveler not properly accommodated is canceled out,’ Director of Zima Leto Travel Agency Olga Gulyar said to UrBC. It has been reported that the number of charter flights to Egypt might be reduced beginning from November 20, 2007 due to increased number of Russian tourists in

The value of net assets of Energy - Mixed Investments (the unit investment trust) managed by Eurogreen Management Company Ltd. went down by .08% between November 6, 2007 and November 7, 2007. According to Eurogreen’s website, the company’s net assets decreased from 4,043,827.89 RUR on November 6, 2007 to 4,040,717.02 RUR on November 7, 2007.

‘Maxi Group’s financial policy has not been perfect in the last few years; I see their careless attitude to risk management as their greatest faux pas; besides, the company’s debts grew so large that it turned out to be very difficult to pay them off,’ Director of Accord Invest’s Ural branch Konstantin Selyanin said to UrBC. Maxi Group now owes some 34 billion RUR to thirty banks altogether. ‘The company could do the following: firstly, make some arrangements with its creditors and go for refinancing, yet this alone wouldn’t save them. Secondly, the business could be sold, but it would have

Fitch Ratings affirmed SKB-Bank’s long-term Issuer Default Rating at B- and its outlook as Stable last week. The bank’s short-term Issuer Default Rating was affirmed at B, its individual rating at D/E. These ratings are based upon SKB-Bank’s nice profit figures, good asset quality, extended regional customer network, and improved corporate management. At the same time, the ratings reflect the bank’s relatively small operational scale, little geographical spread, and fast-growing loan portfolio. SKB-Bank is based in Yekaterinburg and has been building up on the number of customers in the Urals

The Finance magazine came up with a list of Russia’s largest companies whose shares can be bought and sold freely and whose market capitalization comes to more than $1bn. URSA Bank’s capitalization ($2.4bn, or 58.7 billion RUR) was declared Russia’s 73d largest. As regards the banking niche, URSA Bank was called Russia’s 6th worthiest bank. Sberbank, with its capitalization of $96.7bn, or 2.4 trillion RUR, was definitely the first, followed by VTB ($32bn, or 794 billion RUR), Bank of Moscow ($6.9bn, or 171.7 billion RUR), Rosbank ($5.1bn, or 126.5 billion RUR), and Uralsib ($4.7bn, or 117.5

Ural Airlines’ passenger turnover went up by 14% in October 2007 compared to a year earlier and reached 255 million passenger-kilometers. The carrier operated 892 flights, including 607 domestic ones, 181 international ones, and 104 flights around the CIS, the company’s press officer reports. The airline flew some 90,000 passengers in October 2007, which is 16% better than in October 2006 and yet a little worse than in September 2007 (the drop can be explained by a seasonal downfall between the summer vacations and the winter holiday season). Most passengers used the carriers’ Moscow- and

The bank’s official website informs the customers that since November 12, 2007 is a public holiday in the United States, Severnaya Kazna is not going to handle any outward dollar payments for one day. All the dollar payments and stock trading operations will be performed on November 13, 2007, though. In the meantime, one can still sell or buy dollars within the bank as well as make inward payments on November 12, 2007. In addition, it is also possible to make euro payments and stock trading operations as usual

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by SberInvestBank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 1 to 3 years went down by 16.73% (from 122.011 million RUR to 101.6 million RUR) in January-October 2007.

The Expert-Ural magazine has recently published its Expert-Ural 400 rating that features the Urals’ top 400 companies ranked on the basis of their sales figures in 2006. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development was rated the 4th among Ural-West Siberian Region’s largest banks and the 1st among the banks located in Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk Regions. The bank’s sales volume reached 3,314,400,000 RUR last year, which is 42.4% better than in 2005.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Tagilbank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 31 to 90 days went down by 100% (from 26.25 million RUR to zero) in January-October 2007.

UC RUSAL coordinated some social project workshops for teachers and schoolchildren who live in Sverdlovsk Region’s cities and towns where the company’s enterprises are based, UC RUSAL’s local press officer Roman Lukichev reports. The workshops in Kamensk-Uralskiy, Severouralsk, and Krasnoturinsk were organized by the company’s Social Welfare Projects Center; the workshops were conducted by some experienced coaches from Tyumen Development Fund, a charity organization. The coaches spoke on the aims and challenges of a social project and walked the participants through the process of writing a