According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Uralfinprombank to natural persons for 181 days to 1 year went down 20% (from 151.197 million RUR to 120.878 million RUR) in January-May 2007.

A group of employees of West Siberian Metallurgical Industrial Complex, Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Novokuznetsk, and Evrazruda (all of which are members of Evraz Group) took part in the international scientific conference held on the premises of Azovstal (a steelmaker based in Mariupol, Ukraine). Experts from Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, and Kazakhstan were able to make their presentations in 16 different panels. 'The agenda of the conference included a forum on innovational policies for young people employed at metallurgical and machine-building enterprises where heads of

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by GRAN Bank to profit-making self-regulatory organizations for 91 to 180 days went down 67% (from 203.657 million RUR to 66.121 million RUR) in January-April 2007.

8,219 tickets have been booked by Russian Railways Public Company’s customers online within the first month of the service being available. 'One can use any sort of VISA or Master card to pay for the tickets, excluding Maestro or VISA Electron cards meant for paying for the shopping you do in supermarkets or for getting cash through an ATM, since these cards are not designed for e-payments,’ the company’s press release says. Besides, there is an e-booking fee (125.4 RUR) charged by IntelLex (Russian Railways’ tech support).

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Uralprivatbank to natural persons for 181 days to 1 year went down 39% (from 35.041 million RUR to 21.369 million RUR) in January-April 2007.

‘A solemn opening ceremony of URSA Bank’s tenth Omsk-based office took place on June 15, 2007. The event was attended by Director of URSA Bank’s Omsk branch Alexei Stepuro,’ the bank’s press officer reports. 'Our main goal at the moment is to make sure our customers, who entrust their financial security to our care, get full range of high quality products and services,’ Mr. Stepuro said. 'The new office provides for all kinds of services ranging from consumer loans to products tailored specifically for businesses, which reflects URSA Bank’s developmental strategy: we aim to be a

Officers of Nizhniy Tagil customs have filed 6 criminal suits related to smuggling of foreign cars since the beginning of the year. This is thrice the number recorded in January-May 2006, the spokesperson for Ural Customs Administration reports. The total value of cars came to 3.8 million RUR.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of self-regulatory financial institutions’ deposits in Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank valid for 181 days to 1 year went down 77% (from 79.093 million RUR to 17.587 million RUR) in January-May 2007.

'The State Construction Surveillance Administration has imposed fines on over 30 Sverdlovsk Region builders since the beginning of June. The fines mostly had to do with the builders violating housing quality requirements or lacks of construction permits. These fines are sure to be keenly felt by the perpetrators, as we are now allowed to impose a fine ranging between 100,000 RUR and 1,000,000 RUR,’ head of the State Construction Surveillance Administration Ivan Rabtsevich announced at a press conference on June 15, 2007.

'Chelyabinsk Region is promoting the idea of switching from consent-based employment policies to those based on actual law. We are going to both encourage and make the regional municipalities invest just as much as we do in fighting unemployment. This is expected to attract millions of rubles worth of investments,’ First Deputy Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Andrei Kosilov announced at an Employment Support and Coordination Committee meeting on June 15, 2007. 'Chelyabinsk Region Government means to accomplish two key tasks for 2007-2010. Firstly, we’ll try to raise the financing

‘The growth of foreign meat production is predicted to be almost ten times greater than that of Russian meat output within the next four years. In the meantime, it is quite obvious that the price of foreign produce results from the subsidies these countries provide their meat producers with. What kind of fair competition can one speak of then? On the one hand, Russian farmers are told they need to produce more meat, whereas on the other, the state allows enormous influx of much cheaper foreign foods into the country,’ Head of Sverdlovsk Region Meat Union and GD of Good Taste Sergey Emelyanov

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by UralTransBank to state-owned profit-making organizations for 181 days to 1 year went down by 75% (from 5.6 million RUR to 1.394 million RUR) in January-April 2007.

Severnaya Kazna’s chief accountant Lidia Glebova sold her .722%-share in the bank’s authorized capital; thus the number of the bank’s stockholders was reduced to 38 people. At the same time, the share holding of chairman Andrei Volchik went up by .73% (from 7.691% to 8.413%) and that of Maxim Kostyukov dropped from .069% to zero. This is the third time Mr. Volchik has made changes in his share holding: he reduced his share from 7.995% to 7.044% in early May 2007 and from 10.024% to 7.995% on April 25, 2007. In the meantime, chairman Vladimir Frolov decided to decrease his share in the

President of Uralfinprombank Tamara Udelnova quit her position and was elected member of the bank’s Board of Directors. She is going to be succeeded by BOD member Stanislav Zharkov; the decision was taken at the BOD meeting. This information was published by the bank in compliance with the demand that a joint stock investment fund must disclose any information that can affect its stock price.

'The case of Vista Travel Agency related to the company’s alleged violation of the federal advertising law is still being considered by the regional antimonopoly authorities; experts are currently busy collecting additional evidence and data,’ Lyudmila Smirnyagina of Federal Antimonopoly Service Advertising Law Surveillance Department said to UrBC. ‘The Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region asked some experts from Ural State University to examine the travel agent’s ads. What’s more, we intend to assess the data obtained through an opinion poll conducted among radio audiences.

Conversbank is officially reported to have sold its 19.693% share holding of GRAN Bank to Mavlon Invest Ltd., an offshore company. This information was published by the bank in compliance with the demand that a joint stock investment fund must disclose any information that can affect its stock price. The decision to this extent was taken by the bank’s Board of Directors, who agreed to suggest that the company’s shareholders vote for GRAN Bank’s merger with Investbank.

Nizhniy Tagil customs’ foreign trade turnover reached $513.6 million in May 2007, which exceeds the figures for a year earlier by 88.2%, the spokesperson for Ural Customs Administration reports. $458.9 million worth of goods (89.3% of the total turnover volume) were exported to or imported from the far abroad, the share of goods exported to or imported from the NIS came to $54.8 million, or 10.7%. Only $46.3 million worth of goods, or 9%, were actually imported, with the share of exported goods amounting to $467.3 million, or 91%. The area’s trade turnover related to the NIS went up by 72.8%

Ural Airlines is going to introduce its third Yekaterinburg-Yakutsk flight (U6 490/489) on June 18, 2007. This flight is part of an agreement signed by Ural Airlines and Yakutia, the company’s press officer reports. TU 154 planes are to leave Yekaterinburg at 11 PM and to arrive in Yakutsk at 8.10 AM every Monday. The flights are estimated to last 5 hours and 10 minutes.

71,827 Sverdlovsk Region dwellers chose to transfer their pension savings from state to private funds or management companies last year. 96% of those who went for private savings applied for self-regulatory pension funds and 4% selected a management company of some sort. An interdepartmental committee on private pension savings in Sverdlovsk Region and the regional division of Russian Pension Fund report that 13 private funds kept attracting people’s savings in 2006.

RENOVA Stroy Group’s stand on their Academic multi-faceted area development construction project that was exhibited at the 11th International Economic Forum enjoyed great popularity with Russian and foreign top business executives (including RENOVA Group President Viktor Vekselberg) as well as with Russian governors and city mayors, the company’s press release states. A group of delegates from Perm Region was able to have a look at the stand as well; this was particularly significant since RENOVA is thinking of using the region for its next multi-faceted area development project. Governor of