Recent rumors have it that there may have occurred some changes in the way UIC Bank’s shares are owned since some of the stockholders are reported to have sold their holdings to a large external investor. The names of the possible purchaser and of the sellers haven’t been revealed yet. The bank was reluctant to answer UrBC’s official query. ‘I’m afraid I can’t tell you much about the changes in the company at the moment; our Board has not come up with any announcements yet,’ UIC Bank’s Marketing, Advertising and PR Director Natalia Savinova said to UrBC. Ms Savinova suggested that chairman of

Since Chelyabinsk Region’s budget received 2.9 billion RUR more than had originally been planned, Governor Petr Sumin decided to invest 300 million RUR in healthcare development. The Governor called for elimination of hospital lines and illegitimate fees for medicines, bandages, and medical gloves that the patients are supposed to get for free. This is why most of this money is going to be spent on medications and hospital supplies. As regards the waiting lines, part of the sum is to be invested in creating electronic patient databases that are expected to speed up the reception clerks’ work

‘We keep getting complaints about Russian Standard Bank, and the number of those has increased even further after the media announced some banks were violating the loan-giving regulations. There are a few banks that make their customers unhappy, but most applications we get have to do with Russian Standard Bank,’ Elena Bogacheva of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) in Sverdlovsk Region said to UrBC. ‘Our regional division has recently considered filing an administrative suit against the bank. The decision was taken because of a great number of clients’ complaints.

Bank24.ru’s processing center celebrated its 3d anniversary in May 2007. The center was created for servicing VISA cards; 15,000 cards for both individuals and legal entities have been issued so far, with the balance of all accounts coming to more than 660 million RUR, the bank’s press officer reports. This success can be explained by Bank24.ru’s continuous striving for high quality service for all the card holders, available 24/7 in any country of the world. If one happens to lose the bank’s Visa Gold, the bank guarantees that a duplicate or cash will be delivered to any spot on the globe.

Public Prosecutor of Sverdlovsk Region Pavel Kukushkin chaired a meeting devoted to anti-raiding policies. It was said that regional law-enforcement agencies were not using their powers well enough to prevent illegal takeovers; for example, only 29 raiding-related rimes were reported in 2003-2006, with criminal suits filed in most cases afterwards. Mr. Kukushkin observed that this little efficiency could be blamed upon both the municipal and district prosecutors who failed to monitor how well the anti-raiding legislation was complied with. The attendees decided to enforce their preventive

Yekaterinburg municipal Duma committee looked into the report on the city’s budget spending in the first quarter of 2007, Duma’s press officer reports. According to Head of Yekaterinburg Finance and Budget Administration Andrei Koryukov, budget revenues amounted to about 3.103 billion RUR (which comes to 23.1% of the annual planned figures), budget expenditures reached 2.655 billion (which comes to 23.1% of the annual planned figures). So far, all the municipal projects the city’s budget is supposed to cover have been implemented by 8%.

Head of Government Mikhail Fradkov supported the Ministry for Industry and Energy in their decision not to allow AMUR car factory based in Novouralsk to deal in industrial assemblage of Chinese cars. Mr. Fradkov voiced his opinion in the course of the Government meeting where Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel presented a report on the region’s socio-economic development. 'If Chinese cars look like manna from heaven, it does make you question things,’ Mr. Fradkov is reported to have said. The assembly line meant for Chinese cars was launched at Automobiles and Motors of the

'Some small travel agents are going to leave Sverdlovsk Region market; however, all the major players who really shape the mass market demand are going to stay. The new legislation provides for a very clear division between travel agents and tour operators, which is only going to do us all good,’ Sverdlovsk Region Minister for Physical Education, Sports, and Tourism Konstantin Brylyakov said to UrBC. The law states that beginning from June 1, 2007, only the companies listed in the United Federal Register will actually be able to operate on the market.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Uralprivatbank to sole traders for 181 days to 1 year went down 17% (from 10.848 million RUR to 8.951 million RUR) in January-April 2007.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Agroprombank to profit-making NGOs for 181 days to 1 year went down 15% (from 1,666,270,000 RUR to 1,400,816,000 RUR) in January-April 2007.

General Director of SladCo Confectionery (part of Orkla Foods) Alexander Mikhailov decided to resign, the company’s press officer reports. Maxim Ivanov is going to be the company’s acting GD until the new GD has been appointed. Mr. Ivanov will be reporting to Paul Jordahl, Orkla Foods CEO in Russia and the Ukraine.

'Vista Travel Agency knew very well that it was going to make the Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region unhappy. By launching an advertising campaign as aggressive as theirs, they couldn’t but take into account the possible consequences like the sanctions the Service is highly likely to impose on them,’ Deputy Director of Bosfor Travel Agency Alexei Petrov said to UrBC. The thing is, Vista (half of whose shares (51%) was bought by Finpromco in March 2007) is about to face accusations of violating the federal advertising law and to have a lawsuit filed against them since their

Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil (part of Evraz Group) produced its first set of rails for Turkish State Railways (TCDD). The railway company requested 4,000 tons of rails; some of them have already been shipped to Turkey, with the second shipment to be sent in mid-June. Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil is currently negotiating for more supplies in the next two years, EvrazGroup’s press officer reports.

Rostourism has recently updated its lists of travel agents who managed to submit all the right applications and get on the United Federal Register. Only five Yekaterinburg-based ravel agents were actually able to make it: Ural Travel Company Ltd., Europort Ltd., More Travel Russian Club Ltd., Mega Tour Travel Company Ltd., and ProfService Ltd. The rest have only got until June 1, 2007 to apply for the registration. 'Beginning from June 1, 2007, unregistered travel agents will no longer be able to operate on the market. In case they try to, they will have to face a criminal suit and an

Regional statisticians report that retail trade turnover in Sverdlovsk Region grew by 27.3% in January-March 2007 against the first quarter of 2006, reaching 82.3 billion RUR. Yekaterinburg’s share came to 66.3%. In twenty-seven municipalities, retail trade growth rates exceeded the region’s average.

SKB-Bank experts report more mortgages were given to Russian banks’ customers in the first quarter of 2007 than a year earlier. Sverdlovsk Region with its 2.7 billion RUR worth of mortgages was No. 7 on the Top 10 list. 12.6 billion RUR worth of loans were issued in Moscow, Moscow Region with its 5.2 billion RUR worth of loans was No. 4 on the list, 5.5 billion RUR worth of loans were issued in Saint Petersburg, 5.6 billion RUR worth of loans were issued in Tyumen Region, banks of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Region provided their customers with 3.06 billion RUR worth of loans, those based in

Ural Treasures Bank held its annual general meeting on May 30, 2007. The meeting resulted in the shareholders’ decision to approve of the bank’s annual report for 2006 as well as the balance sheet and appoint Yekaterinburg Audit Center the bank’s auditor. The new Board of Directors was elected as well. These are Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Oleg Gusev, Vice Presidents of Ural Financial Holding Irina Lukyanets and Konstantin Pyzhov, Ural Treasures Bank CEO Ilya Markov, Chairperson of Mechel Bank Elena Nesterova, Counselor of Ural Financial Holding Anton Tretyakov, and President

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development was declared one of Russia’s Top 200 largest commercial banks list in the first quarter of 2007 by Kommersant Dengi magazine. The bank also hit Ural Federal District’s Top 3 list (as was the case last year); its equity capital amounted to 27,571,017,000 RUR and its net wealth rose to 28,690,942,000 RUR on April 1, 2007 the bank’s press officer reports. ‘The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development was announced to have the most developed retail services in Ural Federal District; it also was Russia’s No. 29 in terms of individual

Czech Travel Center is going to operate in Yekaterinburg until the end of the year; the decision was taken by First Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Vladimir Molchanov and First Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic when the two met at Sverdlovsk Region’s presentation in the Czech Republic. This information was reported by the spokesperson for Governor of Sverdlovsk Region.

Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank placed its balance sheet data as of March 1, 2007 on the corporate website. According to these data, the bank’s assets placed with crediting organizations went down 69% between February 1, 2007 and March 1, 2007 (or from 97,091,000 RUR to 29,531,000 RUR).