Bank24.ru acquired Retra Insurance Company. The bank’s press officer reports Retra is one the Urals’ oldest insurers, as it was set up in 1993; the company is proud of its impressive client database that comprises both profit-making and public sector enterprises as well as a significant proportion of private customers. The acquisition resulted in Retra’s capital rising by 40 million RUR. ‘Buying this insurance company is seen is a strategic decision. We intend to develop this insurer as a separate business, since this kind of activity has a lot of potential. In the very near future, Retra is

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of non-profit NGOs’ deposits in UralFinPromBank valid for 1 to 3 years went down by 93.39% (from 5.14 million RUR to 340,000 RUR) in January-August 2007.

Ural Airlines is planning to resume its scheduled flights to Thailand on October 2, 2007; the flights will be operated twice a week (every Tuesday and Friday) using an A-320 aircraft. The company’s press officer says tickets are available from any booking office in Russia.

Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Viktor Koksharov met the General Director of Microsoft Rus Ltd Birger Steen at the regional government’s conference room. The two executives agreed to join their efforts in the fields of government IT infrastructure development, enhancing the regional IT system’s infosecurity level, application of the most advanced information technologies in education and healthcare, and giving government officials more IT training. Then, Mr. Koksharov and Mr. Steen signed the Agreement of Intent regarding application of information technologies. The spokesperson for the

In June and July 2007, some holders of Visa and Visa Electron cards were able to take part in the lottery organized by Visa International by simply using their bank cards to pay for any product or service they bought or topping up their bank account with the help of an ATM by at least 300 RUR. Over 3,200,000 transactions performed by cardholders from 64 different banks that supported the campaign had a chance of winning. The drawing took place on August 21, 2007 in Moscow and resulted in thirty-two people getting entitled to 3,000-ruble gift certificates that they could use to shop in

The Minister for International and Foreign Economic Relations of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Kharlov recently held negotiations with the head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s Russian representation Artem Sitnikov. The meeting was made possible due to EBRD Business Group Director for Russia Alain Pilloux’s upcoming visit to Ural Federal District. Mr. Kharlov said Sverdlovsk Region was definitely interested in keeping on cooperating with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; for instance, the bank could take part in a number of construction projects that

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Pervouralsk Joint Stock Commercial Bank to sole traders for 1 to 3 years went down by 14.52% (from 39.581 million RUR to 33.834 million RUR) in January-August 2007.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in Yekaterinburg Municipal Bank valid for 181 days to 1 year went down by 100% (from 5 million RUR to zero) in January-August 2007.

URSA Bank published a report on its consolidated accounts in the first half of 2007, with figures compiled in accordance with the IAS; the report was audited by KPMG. The data provided in the report indicate that the bank’s assets rose by 3.1 times on July 1, 2007 compared to a year earlier and reached 143.7 billion RUR. The bank’s equity capital grew by 7.7 times and came to 26.4 billion RUR. URSA Bank’s profits amounted to 1.43 billion RUR in January-June 2007, which exceeds the figures for January-June 2006 by 2.4 times; its returns on assets and equity amounted to 2.5% and 31.7%,

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank valid for 31 to 90 days went down by 100% (from 175.001 million RUR to zero) in January-August 2007.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in SberInvestBank valid for 1 to 3 years went down by 30% (from 20 million RUR to 14 million RUR) in January-August 2007.

‘Russian Chrome 1915 did have a permission to dump a certain amount of manufacturing water in the local pond, but this permission actually imposed some very strict limits upon the company. However, the enterprise exceeded these limits considerably, which is why its top executives are to undergo a criminal trial now. Besides, we intend to go on doing our scheduled inspections,’ the spokesperson for the regional division of Rostechnadzor (the state environmental watchdog) Artem Kagarodov said to UrBC. Sverdlovsk Region public prosecution authorities inspected the area near the village of

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in Uralfinance Bank valid for 181 days to 1 year went down by 11.77% (from 8.5 million RUR to 7.5 million RUR) in January-August 2007.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of nongovernmental financial organizations’ deposits in UralTransBank valid for 91 to 180 days went down by 100% (from 2 million RUR to zero) in January-August 2007.

SKB-Bank set up some new ATMs in the south of Russia, namely, in Volgograd and Rostov Regions. The 24/7 automatic teller machines can be found at 11 Turgenevskiy Lane in the town of Volzhskiy and at 74b Druzhby St. in Taganrog. This was Taganrog’s eleventh ATM belonging to SKB-Bank; as for Volzhskiy, the bank now owns six ATMs there. All in all, SKB-Bank’s ATM network covers nine Russian regions, with over 200 machines operating in Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Tyumen Regions as well as in Perm Territory and Moscow.

Twenty-two employees of Bogoslovskiy Aluminum Plant (part of United Company RUSAL) have successfully undergone all the testing procedures and got international certificates that prove their expertise in the field of project management, UC RUSAL’s local press officer Roman Lukichev said to UrBC. ‘Today, project management is one of the most important mechanisms at play in a market economy. All the experts of Bogoslovskiy Aluminum Plant, including our chief alumina and electrolysis production engineers, economists, and developers felt they really needed some additional training to be able to

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by AGROPROMBANK Credit to sole traders for 91 to 180 days went down by 8.65% (from 8.1 million RUR to 7.4 million RUR) in January-August 2007.

The permit entitling one of Magnitogorsk-based plants belonging to ChTPZ Group to produce steam and hot water manifolds for heat supply facilities was renewed by Byelorussia’s Promatomnadzor (the state industrial and nuclear safety watchdog). The spokesperson for the company says trying to meet their customers’ increasing demand for power engineering equipment is one of their top developmental priorities at the moment. Russia and the CIS’ nuclear-power engineering giants are known to place orders with the plant on regular basis. According to Byelorussian law, all the equipment that is

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in Tagilbank valid for 181 days to 1 year went down by 65.5% (from 15.36 million RUR to 5.3 million RUR) in January-August 2007.

Uralmashzavod signed an agreement with Uralmash Metallurgical Equipment regarding the delivery of four segments and three other pieces of equipment for continuous casting machine to Severstal in April 2008. Uralmashzavod’s press officer reports the equipment is to be made using Uralmash Metallurgical Equipment’s engineering and lay-outs. The future products are meant for CC machine No. 2 made by Uralmashzavod in 2005 and installed in Severstal’s LD plant. The CC machine meets all the modern requirements and is capable of performing automated continuous casting operations on the level that