SKB-Bank keeps helping members of housing cooperatives get mortgage loans. On October 26, 2007 SKB-Bank and Olips, one of Yekaterinburg’s major developers, signed a cooperation agreement that provides for mortgages to members of Sozvezdiye housing cooperative, the bank’s press officer says. This means the bank offers them a loan so that the members can pay for their co-op share that will later give them a right to an apartment in three out of eight blocks within the Sozvezdiye complex. The first apartment block has already been put up and will soon be commissioned. SKB-Bank offers its

MegaFon Ural, one of Russia’s major mobile operators, presented its new service known as Push-To-Talk (PTT) at InfoCom, the 7th International Forum/Exhibition held in Yekaterinburg. The spokesperson for the company reports PTT makes it possible to use one’s mobile phone as a portable radio, but unlike with the conventional walkie-talkies, its radio range is virtually unlimited, so, thanks to the use of GPRS/EDGE technologies, MegaFon Ural’s customers can now use PTT within the network coverage area and when using the company’s roaming services. In addition, MegaFon Ural’s stand presented

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development introduced the New Year’s Deposit for businesses; the offer is valid from October 24, 2007 to December 31, 2007, the bank’s press officer reports. The winter holiday season is usually characterized by a certain commercial downfall, which is why the new deposit scheme is seen as a good way of making the most during this period of business inertia. The interest rate actually depends on the time period your money has been in the bank (between two and six months); if you choose to deposit your finances with the Ural Bank for Reconstruction and

URSA Bank made 28.605 million RUR worth of fourth-coupon payments on its sixth bond issue. The coupon yield was determined at 7.65% a year, which amounts to 19.07 RUR per one bond. The bank went through with its 1.5-billion-ruble bond issue valid for two years on April 27, 2006 (file number 40600323 В). The issue was coordinated by the Bank of Moscow; the next coupon payments have been scheduled for January 24, 2008 and April 24, 2008. As for its fifth bond issue, URSA Bank made 150.3 million RUR worth of coupon payments on October 23, 2007.

Ural Airlines switched to its winter timetable on October 28, 2007; this timetable will be valid through March 29, 2008. The airline’s press officer reports the winter timetable provides for more flights to most popular destinations; for one, Yekaterinburg-Moscow flights will be performed four to five times a day compared to only three times a day in the summer. On the other hand, fewer flights will be operated to the south of Russia (that is, places like Sochi and Mineralniye Vody).Unlike last winter, the carrier will also be offering flights to Vladivostok, Irkutsk, Surgut, Gyumri, Kulyaba,

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of non-profit NGOs’ deposits in Uralfinance Commercial Bank valid for 181 days to 1 year went down 11.76% (from 8.5 million RUR to 7.5 million RUR) in January-September 2007.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Yekaterinburg Municipal Bank to natural persons for 1 to 3 years went down by 12% (from 338.069 million RUR to 297.261 million RUR) in January-September 2007.

A flight operated by Aviaprad was delayed once again; a plane coming to Yekaterinburg from Norilsk was supposed to have arrived in Yekaterinburg at 2 PM on October 26, 2007, yet the interactive timetable used in Koltsovo airport read that Aviaprad’s flight would be delayed by five hours. The air carrier refused to produce any comments.

The top executives of CZMT Invest AG (a Czech-German joint venture) and Rosinvestprom UTC signed an agreement regarding the construction of talc and cement plants in Sverdlovsk Region on October 25, 2007. The region’s government reports CZMT Invest AG intends to finance the creation of Ural Talc Complex; as for the cement works, the construction process is expected to cover several stages. The plant will only be producing a few standard kinds of cement at first, but these will be made on the basis of the newest technologies. This means some equipment with capacity of up to 1 million tons of

'We haven’t felt food prices have grown any more stable yet. We get the foods from our suppliers, who still use the growing prices, then we impose a 20% price increase and put the products on the shelves,’ Galina Dobroslavina, Director of Demetra Ltd (a grocery store), said to UrBC. 'The foods we are getting this week come at last week’s prices; there were no price drops of any sort,’ she added. In the meantime, the Russian Federation Ministry of Agriculture’s executives and members of Russian business community discussed the ways of making essential food prices stable last Tuesday.

The Russian market on the whole and Sverdlovsk Region’s market in particular are getting more and more familiar with the so-called distance sales, which is why the Russian Government adopted a special provision on distance sales regulations. The rules state that distance sales are a way of selling certain products through getting the end user acquainted with them with the help of catalogues, advertising leaflets, pictures, websites, etc. To protect the citizens’ life and health, the regional division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) insists that all customers pay close

SKB-Bank’s group of leasing companies got on top of Yekaterinburg’s Top Leasing Companies List in January-June 2007; the list was compiled by the Delovoy Kvartal magazine, the bank’s press officer reports. SKB-Leasing was rated Yekaterinburg’s No. 1 in terms of money given for the acquisition of new equipment: the volume of all transactions totaled to 330 million RUR. The company was also the city’s largest leasing company in terms of the total transaction cost (2.6 billion RUR per 412 transactions). Besides, SKB-Leasing was one of the three leading companies in terms of money given for the

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in Uralprivatbank valid for 181 days to 1 year went down by 8.2% (from 112.55 million RUR to 103.3 million RUR) in January-September 2007.

'Moldavian winemakers are not going to win back their share of the Russian market. They haven’t come up with any supply offers yet, but we expect them to do this soon,’ Ural Spirits’ Purchasing Director Sergey Lapshin says. He believes Moldavian wines’ price, the competition coming from both foreign and domestic rivals, and no opportunity of getting back on store shelves are the three factors that cancel out any possibility of getting their share of the market back. 'As for Moldavian cognac, things are even more complicated because the demand was supposed to have been restored long

There were 143,600 unemployed people in Sverdlovsk Region in September 2007, which is 21% less than a year earlier, regional statisticians report. An average worker’s salary came to 13,752.6 RUR in August 2007, which is 25.8% better than in August 2006. The population’s expenses reached in 58.1 billion RUR in August 2007, which is 23.2% more than twelve months before.

The Bank of Russia’s PR Department reports that the Central Bank of the Russian Federation held a series of deposit auctions, including those based on the Reuters Dealing system, MICEX e-trading system and buying bids on October 25, 2007; the money was deposited on October 26, 2007, the refund of the deposit and the payment of the interest are due November 23, 2007 (for deposits valid for four weeks) or January 25, 2008 (for deposits valid for three months). The auction was held in compliance with the Federal Law 86 on the Central Bank of Russian Federation as well as with the Bank of

'The rate of business development is very intense nowadays, so it would be wise of any entrepreneur to think of their future, since any one of them can go bust at any given point,’ Deputy Chairman of Consumer Services Committee Mikhail Usoltsev says. 'Nowadays companies tend to expand through gradual takeovers; if you take Yekaterinburg’s photography market, for instance, there are only two major players at the moment with retail outlets in all the parts of the city,’ notes Oleg Zemtsov, the spokesperson for Deputy Mayor. 'One should think carefully of where to set up a

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) has successfully undergone the re-certification audit procedure and proved its compliance with the international ISO 14001-2004 environmental management standard. The audit was conducted by TUV NORD CERT; it proved that MMK’s environmental management system is functioning properly, the company’s press officer reports. The company introduced its environmental management system and had it certified in 2004. Every year since, MMK has been undergoing additional audit to prove its compliance with the standard. The last certificate was valid through

The Bank of Russia reports Russian people had 3.447 trillion RUR worth of cash on their hands on October 1, 2007; this amounts to about 6 billion banknotes and more than 33.7 billion coins. 37% of all available banknotes are 1,000-ruble bills, and they get forged most often. Every one in five bills is a 500-ruble one, and this is Russia’s second most popular banknote at the moment. Then, the 5,000-ruble bills are also gaining popularity. The Central Bank of Russia says 120 million banknotes have been printed already. Russian mints mainly produce 1-kopeck and 5-kopeck coins; together, they

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) aims to raise its metal goods output up to 15 million tons a year by 2013, Chairman Viktor Rashnikov reports. The enterprise has already managed to increase its steel output by 1.86 times (from 6.7 million tons to 12.45 million tons) and to nearly double its metal goods production (from 5.8 million tons to 11.3 million tons) in 1996-2006. Last year, MMK’s steel output rose by 1 million tons and its rolled metal output grew by 1.15 million tons. Mr. Rashnikov says the company now aims to develop its further metal processing technologies and concentrate