GRAN Commercial Bank applied for a closing-down notice in the United State Register for legal entities; the bank stops operating as GRAN Bank proper, as the company’s shareholders decided that the bank was going to merge with Investbank. This decision was made at the annual general meeting. In addition, Investbank is also acquiring Voronezhprombank and CONVERSBANK.

Cement prices have already doubled since the beginning of the year in Russia, yet the price growth reached its peak in August and September 2007. As regards Sverdlovsk Region, the price race is actually comparable to that in Moscow. ‘It all depends on a particular supplier and their pricing policies. Nevyansk plant, for one, chose to freeze all the prices, whereas Gornozavodskcement raises prices by 7% to 10% on a monthly basis,’ SK Master Investment and Building Company’s Sales Manager Siamudin Agakhanov said to UrBC. There is a little profiteering at play as well. ‘Prices have grown by

Ural Airlines is to sign an agreement with Airbus on October 4, 2007, the carrier’s press officer reports. Upon the completion of this procedure, executives from both companies will take part in a press conference in Sverdlovsk Region Government House. These will be Ural Airlines’ General Director Sergey Skuratov and Airbus representatives from France and Moscow. Governor Eduard Rossel is expected to attend the conference as well.

The value of net assets of Energy – Mixed Investments (the unit investment trust) managed by Eurogreen Management Company Ltd. went down by .75% between September 24, 2007 and September 25, 2007. According to Eurogreen’s website, the company’s net assets decreased from 5,012,831.99 RUR on September 24, 2007 to 4,975,146.94 RUR on September 25, 2007.

A verdict was returned upon Mayak Corporation’s security officer Pavel Kilin in Oktyabrskiy court of Yekaterinburg on September 28, 2007. Mr. Kilin was found guilty of physical assault targeted at Sergey Kuznetsov, chairman of an NGO called Civil Rights Protection Center. This happened on September 21, 2007 when the Center organized a picket in order to denounce the activity of Mayak Corporation’s director Vladimir Konkov. The company’s security officers tried to stop the picketers, which led to Mr. Kuznetsov getting a brain concussion. Apart from that, the phalanges of his right-hand fingers

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development celebrated its 17th anniversary on September 28, 2007. ‘The bank kept growing in all respects throughout these years, which can be explained by the policy it chose to adopt on the region’s financial market. One of our development strategies at the moment is building up on retail services meant for individual customers and small and medium-scale businesses in all the parts of Russia where our offices operate,’ the bank’s President Sergey Dymshakov says. ‘We currently own seventy-seven offices in eight Russian regions and a number of

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of natural persons’ demand deposits and investments in Tyumenenergobank went down by 50.8% (from 150.083 million RUR to 73.833 million RUR) in January-August 2007.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in UralTransBank valid for 181 days to 1 year went down by 27.74% (from 58.549 million RUR to 42.304 million RUR) in January-August 2007.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of natural persons’ deposits and investments in SberInvestBank valid for 31 to 90 days went down by 64.43% (from 1.988 million RUR to 707,000 RUR) in January-August 2007.

‘The sales on the existing homes market nearly halved compared to a year earlier; most people are now looking for one-room apartments, cottages, and single rooms,’ Atrium Real Estate Center’s Residential Real Estate Director Olga Zavyalova said to UrBC. ‘Ours is a fairly large company, so we are doing our best to retain our personnel (and we are talking about more than just ten or fifteen people here). Despite the current standstill, we can easily meet the minimum requirements imposed on the number of transactions, so we don’t really need to make our employees redundant.’ At the same time, Ms

Fitch Ratings, the international rating agency, promoted URSA Bank’s Rating Outlook from Stable to Positive. The bank’s Issuer Default Rating was affirmed at B, its individual rating at D in both short- and long-term; its support rating was affirmed at 5 and level of long-term IDR support was affirmed as missing.. ‘This positive rating results from URSA Bank’s recent issue of $408 million worth of preference shares and the rate the bank uses on its mortgages and car loans; credit cards offered to borrowers with a nice credit record were another factor,’ Fitch Ratings says referring to Alexei

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of non-profit NGOs’ deposits in Yekaterinburg Municipal Bank valid for 1 to 3 years went down by 59.41% (from 31.78 million RUR to 12.9 million RUR) in January-August 2007.

SKB-Bank set up new offices in Noviy Urengoy and Rostov-on-Don, the bank’s press officer reports. The two offices are located within 3,500 kilometers of one another; this distance covers twenty more subsidiaries, offices, and representations of the bank, with the total number of the company’s outlets all over Russia coming to nearly eighty units. The additional offices are located at 8 Leningradskiy Ave. in Noviy Urengoy and at 144a Pushkinskaya St. in Rostov-on-Don. Both places welcome private customers from 9 AM to 7 PM on weekdays and from 9 AM to 4 PM on weekends. Legal entities can use

‘Speaking of possible changes in the way loans are given in this country, one should bear in mind that these are mainly financial intermediaries that actually have a sort of borrowing policy, which means these changes will above all affect the Central Bank of Russia and other Russian banks. As for the Central Bank of Russia, it will probably try to liberalize the assets it uses as collaterals for lombard loans and repurchase agreements. This way the authorities are hoping to be able to improve the refinancing mechanisms while the global stock market appears to be so unstable,’ Vsevolod

Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant’s 10,000,000th ton of pipe goods was produced at the company’s first pipe-rolling shop recently; it took the enterprise 71 years to reach this figure after the pipe-forming machine was first launched. The spokesperson for Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (part of ChTPZ Group) says their pipe-rolling mill 220 is unique in that while its design and the technology it uses are not very complicated, the mill is capable of producing the plant’s widest range of weldless hot-rolled pipes (with the diameter ranging from 114 to 219 millimeters) from different kinds of steel. The

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Ural Innovational Commercial Bank to natural persons for 1 to 3 years goes down 57.61% (from 27.811 million RUR to 11.791 million RUR) in January-August 2007.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in VUZ Bank valid for 181 days to 1 year went down by 70.71% (from 283.068 million RUR to 82.928 million RUR) in January-August 2007.

‘RUSAL is going to implement six social welfare programs in Sverdlovsk Region according to a certain schedule. Each program has some strict deadlines. A presentation called One Hundred Cool Projects has already taken place in Yekaterinburg. The next point on the agenda is moving on to the Step over the Horizon program,’ RUSAL Social Welfare Projects Center CEO Igor Sukhotin said to UrBC. The One Hundred Cool Projects contest has been held for the fifth time this year; it was the first time the contest was hosted by Sverdlovsk Region. Principals, teachers, and students from a number of

A letter addressed to Alfa Bank’s Internet Bank customers was spammed around on September 26, 2007. The letter used Alfa Bank’s branded logos and letterheads; it also contained some information about the bank’s license details. At the same time, the contents of the letter give one grounds for suspecting it could be part of a swindle aimed at getting hold of the customers’ personal data and accessing their accounts. The letter reads as follows: Dear Alfa Client Online User, Due to the fact that Alfa Bank possesses some data on the increasing rate of IT-crime targeted at stealing money from the

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of natural persons’ demand deposits and investments in Uralprivatbank went down by 17.34% (from 18.916 million RUR to 15.637 million RUR) in January-August 2007.