According to the official press release of Severnaya Kazna, the bank’s authorized capital has recently experienced some share-ownership changes. Chairman of the Board of Directors Vladimir Frolov raised his share in the bank’s authorized capital through acquiring some ordinary shares from Chairman of the Supervisory Board Andrei Volchik on February 16, 2007. This means Mr. Frolov now has a 22.313% share holding (against the 21.313% one he owned up to February 15, 2007); Mr. Volchik’s share dropped from 1.687% to .687%. This is the third time over the last few months the bank’s stockholders

Unless Russia adopts a new scheme for charging for housing maintenance, the regional problems in the field might simply get out of control, says Vyacheslav Prakin, General Director of Sverdlovsk Communal Networks. According to Mr. Prakin, the shamefully low wages of people who provide services to Sverdlovsk Region’s city-dwellers have brought the whole system to the verge of a collapse. The power suppliers of Severouralsk, for instance, are ready to go on strike in order to protect their rights and their families. Other towns are hardly doing any better. Skilled workers and young

The construction of Botanicheskaya underground station in the south of Yekaterinburg will begin on March 1, 2007, reports the spokesperson for the city council. The new station will be located in the vicinity of Dirigible trade center. Unlike the existing stations, Botanicheskaya is to be situated almost on the surface; its lowest point will not even exceed twelve meters. The authorities expect the station to start operating in 2010.

Following the requirement that all issuers publish information vital to the company’s share price, URSA Bank reports that its bonds can now be found at MICEX stock exchange. 1,500,000 interest-bearing inconvertible bearer bonds (state serial number 40600323V as of December 22, 2006) have been allowed to participate in the bidding process without the listing procedures. URSA Bank is the result of a recent merger of the Urals and Siberia’s largest banks (SibAcademBank and Uralvneshtorgbank). The new bank rates Russia’s fifth in terms of regional network development; it has over 260 offices in

Local statisticians completed their report on success of Sverdlovsk Region industry in January 2007. The regional industrial production index in January 2007 amounted to 109.8% of the figures for January 2006 and to 80.6% of the figures for December 2006, reports Sverdlovsk Region division of the State Statistics. The increase in the industrial production (compared to a year earlier) was brought about by 2.7 times more furniture being produced this January as well as by production growth (1.6 times) of radio, TV, and telecommunication equipment, and enginery. In addition, 39% more metal goods

‘The latest regulations imposed by the Central Bank of Russia support the recent trend for bank consolidation. Small regional banks are finding it much harder to stay on the market. This is particularly true in terms of the banks that were originally created as part of a large financial/industrial group meant for servicing the enterprise only. They were never intended for mortgage lending or retail services, they had other things to do,’ Viktor Nemikhin, Director of BrokerCreditService Company Ltd., said to UrBC. As regards the Ural market, SberInvestBank and UralFinPromBank are two such

The Economic Crimes Division of Sverdlovsk Region Department of Internal Affairs sent a group of officers to UralTransBank’s headquarters today. According to the Department’s press officer Valeriy Gorelikh, the bank is now under investigation related to criminal suits involving some clients of UralTransBank. ‘The banking business is extremely sensitive to any incidents, particularly to those involving the law-enforcement agencies. It’s hard to say now just how these investigative actions are going to affect the bank’s image and reputation, but it will be clearer in one or two weeks’ time when

VVV Company and London & Regional Properties Fund declared they were going to enter Yekaterinburg’s logistics market. They have recently signed a number of joint venture agreements regarding construction of storehouses in some Russian cities. Over 1 million square meters of storage area will be put up in ten places, including Yekaterinburg. The land allotments have already been bought. Sverdlovsk Region has been experiencing storage area shortage lately (it still needs about 700,000 square meters), and the construction designs often fail to agree with one another; to make matters worse,

‘The number of claims returned by the Court of Arbitration went down .7% against 2005 (and the number of all applications decreased by 4.9%). So, 1,811 applications were returned in 2006 altogether,’ Irina Reshetnikova, Chief Justice of Sverdlovsk Region Court of Arbitration announced at the press conference. ‘The number of cases solved dropped as well; the figure fell short of the data for 2005 by 7.2%, which means that there 36,700 cases adjudicated in 2006 altogether. The Russian average, however, declined by 40%,’ Ms Reshetnikova said. ‘This has to do with the fact that quite a few claims

‘The multinational retail networks operating on the regional grocery market have very few precuts by local agricultural producers on their shelves,’ Alexei Podolyako, CEO of Alliance Non-Commercial partnership, said to UrBC. ‘This can be explained by the terms of delivery contracts that these multinationals offer: these terms are so unattractive that no regional producer would ever think it sensible to accept them. A producer is generally known to decide on whether to cooperate with a particular retail chain using economic criteria. If doing business with a particular grocery store is going

The Economic Crimes Division of Sverdlovsk Region Department of Internal Affairs sent a group of officers to UralTransBank’s headquarters today. According to the Department’s press officer Valeriy Gorelikh, the bank is now under investigation related to criminal suits involving some clients of UralTransBank. ‘The investigative action is connected with the accusations of large-scale tax evasion and avoiding insurance payments to state non-budgetary funds,’ Mr. Gorelikh noted. The actions of the law-enforcement officers have been approved of by the regional public prosecution authorities. Mr.

According to the spokesperson for the Governor of Sverdlovsk Region, Governor Eduard Rossel and Petr Latyshev, Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District, are to pay a one-day visit to Khanty-Mansiyskiy Autonomous Region on February 15, 2007. Their delegation is planning to take part in the 2007 Ural-Yugra exhibition currently held in Surgut, and to sign a cooperation agreement with SurgutNefteGaz. Eduard Rossel and the company’s General Director Vladimir Bogdanov signed the agreement shortly after the opening of the exhibition.

Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development has recently introduced a large ‘investors-friendly’ office at 44 Kraul St. The office welcomes visitors from 9 AM to 8 PM on weekdays and offers them the full range of the bank’s investment services. One can play the market using such Russian exchanges as RTS and MICEX there or use the trust management service, set up an unallocated bullion account or precious-metals deposit as well as join any of the bank’s united banking management funds. Customers will also be consulted on brokerage or updated on the bids, rates of exchange of currencies and

Starting February 15, 2007, ATMs of Severnaya Kazna (the bank and the insurance company) no longer accept UnionCard or STB-Card since the company’s agreement with UnionCard was cancelled, reports the spokesperson for the bank.

The 2007 Ural-Yugra exhibition is going to be held in Surgut, Khanty-Mansiyskiy Autonomous Region. About 100 enterprises from Sverdlovsk Region as well as from the other regions of Ural Federal District (including Kalinin Machine Building Works, Uralvagonzavod, Uraltransmash, Uralelectrotyazhmash-Uralgidromash, Chelyabinsk-based Uraltrac, N.A. Semikhatov Scientific Production Association (Automatica), Ural Electro-mechanical Works, Pipe Metallurgical Company, and many others) are going to exhibit their produce. The regional delegation will be headed by Governor Eduard Rossel; among the other

‘Only 20% to 30% of local residents can afford to buy a place, even if you take into account the mortgage lending programs,’ reports Petr Latyshev, Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District. This is why the experts from the Plenipotentiary Representation of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District have already decided to analyze the price-forming mechanisms, and it is possible that the local government will spend more money on putting up economy class housing.

Fourteen participants of the project known as the School of Managing Director supported by Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil (part of Evraz Group) have recently taken part in a workshop devoted to legal aspects of nature conservation in Russia, reports the spokesperson for Evraz Group. The company’s middle level managers, who have been undergoing intensive managerial training, must attend this obligatory environmental workshop in order to complete their two-year program. The seminars were conducted by the faculty of the leading Ural colleges and the company’s environmental

‘We are happy about Federal Antimonopoly Service approving of the merger of RUSAL, SUAL, and Glencore,’ says Alexei Prokhorov, SUAL Holding’s PR Director. ‘The enlarged company will definitely obey all the requirements set by Federal Antimonopoly Service. We don’t think they are going to hinder the successful implementation of our plans or business development, moreover, we do believe these regulations will have a positive impact on the Russian market as a whole,’ Mr Prokhorov observes. The Russian Federation Antimonopoly Service has recently approved of the merger of RUSAL, SUAL, and

‘The introduction of mobile money orders would be a rather logical m-banking innovation,’ Lyudmila Protasova, PR Director of MegaFon Ural, says regarding a global money order system brought about by GSM Association. ‘Our clients can pay the subscription fee using their bank account if they sign a special additional agreement providing their account number and the way money must be transferred into the company’s account,’ Ms Protasova explained. ‘Russian mobile operators, though, are not likely to join the global m-payment network any time soon, since they would have to get a banking license

The solemn awarding ceremony at the close of the 6th All-Russian Community-Minded Enterprise Contest took place in the State Kremlin Palace a few days ago. Some members of SUAL Group won in Russia’s major social competition for the sixth time. A special committee and the representatives of a number of industrial labor unions chose the winners of the year 2006 in additional and sectorial categories. Kandalashskiy Aluminum Plant won in the Development of Medical Care for Employees category, SevUralBauxiteRuda won in the Development of Catering for Employees category, Irkutsk Aluminum Plant was