Medialogia, a mass media analysis and monitoring system, published its Top 30 Most Attractively Advertised Russian Banks rating. The rating covers thirty Russian companies that got the best publicity in December 2006. Sberbank, VTB, and Gazprombank (three major players on the Russian banking market) occupy the three top positions. According to experts of Medialogia, SKB-Bank hits the 20th position, based on how much positive publicity they got and how attractive they looked. There are 1,189 banks in Russia at the moment. The company used the so-called most favoured informational status

‘We have got one major rival, Grossmart. When Park House Trade Center that now hosts Grossmart was under construction, we were worried about the upcoming opening of a supermarket in the immediate vicinity of our store. However, we have been able to compete successfully; moreover, we are getting more and more customers since the quality of goods and service in Grossmart leave a lot to be desired. The federal chain stores are trying to lure the customers into their outlets with the help of low prices, but one cannot stick to such prices for a long time. The experience of Park House and

Sverdlovsk Region is one of Russia’s ten regions with the most expensive dwellings, reports Kommersant-First Rating almanac. The average price of a square meter of dwelling came to 48,770 RUR in November 2006; which made Sverdlovsk Region’s houses Russia’s sixth most expensive ones. Moscow, with its 106,236 RUR, is the most expensive city to live in, Saint Petersburg got the second position (55,676 RUR); Khanty-Mansiyskiy Autonomous Region became Russia’s third most expensive area (54,778.7 RUR).

The report on the state of the environment and the way environmental factors affected the health of Sverdlovsk Region population indicates that Yekaterinburg-based enterprises that release gases without recycling them first dumped 16,016 tons of pollutants in the air. Only 12.9% of local emission points have gas-purifying facilities. Novo-Sverdlovskaya power station (part of SverdlovEnergo) becomes the major polluter with its 20.1% share in the total amount of emissions.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs in Volga Federal District initiated a criminal suit against people who are accused of having stolen over 4m RUR from Uniastrum Bank subsidiary based in Nizhniy Novgorod. This money is believed to have been disguised as compensation payments for car loans. The investigation revealed that the offenders had been working in the bank; one more person was running an insurance company. Some 200 borrowers who paid more than they had to for their cars are estimated to have suffered. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Volga Federal District, the accused

UralTransBank is not permitted to act as a depository after the Federal Financial Market Service annulled its license on January 10, 2007 at the request of the bank. Depositary operations include keeping track of the ownership of securities, safekeeping of securities themselves or servicing shares placed in a depositary.

According to the figures as of January 2007, 30,082,145 people are now using MegaFon, the mobile operator. The number of their subscribers rose by one-third last year, which is very good for the saturated market. The company’s client network used to double every year: from 3,020,818 people in January 2003 to 6,358,700 people in January 2004, to 13,647,807 people in January 2005, and to 22,835,985 people in January 2006. ‘The market has almost reached its saturation limit, which signifies the end of the extensive development era, yet it is now when the potential of telecommunication

Based on the report on the state of the environment and the way environmental factors affected the health of Sverdlovsk Region population, enterprises based in Krasnouralsk emitted 72,795 tons of pollutants, with 98.1% of all substances released by Svyatogor (part of Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company). This figure includes 67.2% of total nitrogen dioxide, 99.1% of total sulphur dioxide, 50% of carbon monoxide, and 100% of all emitted lead.

‘We received 68 complaints regarding violations of the federal legislation on advertising in 2006. Our experts revealed 160 such instances themselves; they also dealt with 70 cases and issued 15 orders,’ Head of the Russian Federation Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region Tatiana Kolpakova announced at the press conference today. ‘I had a feeling that the local admen ignored the new advertising law,’ Ms Kolpakova said. Starting January 1, 2007, it is no longer legal to deal in outdoor advertising of tobacco or alcohol, including any kind of transport, even cars. Federal

‘We received 68 complaints regarding violations of the federal legislation on advertising in 2006. Our experts revealed 160 such instances themselves; they also dealt with 70 cases and issued 15 orders,’ Head of the Russian Federation Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region Tatiana Kolpakova announced at the press conference today. ‘I had a feeling that the local admen ignored the new advertising law,’ Ms Kolpakova said. Starting January 1, 2007, it is no longer legal to deal in outdoor advertising of tobacco or alcohol, including any kind of transport, even cars. Federal

‘The experts’ concerns related to infringement of consumer rights in case of high tariffs introduced by UralSvyazInform, the regional mobile and landline operator, are grounded enough,’ Head of the Russian Federation Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region Tatiana Kolpakova announced at the press conference today. ‘Given that the company raised the tariffs every year, it is unclear why the no-limit tariff offered by the company is now 50% more expensive than the cost of the service at the moment,’ Ms Kolpakova observed. ‘So, should any natural persons or legal entities place a

‘The experts’ concerns related to infringement of consumer rights in case of high tariffs introduced by UralSvyazInform, the regional mobile and landline operator, are grounded enough,’ Head of the Russian Federation Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region Tatiana Kolpakova announced at the press conference today. ‘Given that the company raised the tariffs every year, it is unclear why the no-limit tariff offered by the company is now 50% more expensive than the cost of the service at the moment,’ Ms Kolpakova observed. ‘So, should any natural persons or legal entities place a

‘The issuers’ informational transparency is one of the greatest motivating factors for the stock market development. According to the legal regulations regarding ways and formats of revealing information, the issuers (there are about 800 of them in Ural Federal District) must draw up and publish a quarterly report containing data that might have a significant impact on the issuer’s share price,’ says Vladimir Krysov, Head of Federal Financial Market Service in Ural Federal District. ‘We processed 3,094 reports last year; due to the administrative pressure and monitoring policies we have to

‘The issuers’ informational transparency is one of the greatest motivating factors for the stock market development. According to the legal regulations regarding ways and formats of revealing information, the issuers (there are about 800 of them in Ural Federal District) must draw up and publish a quarterly report containing data that might have a significant impact on the issuer’s share price,’ says Vladimir Krysov, Head of Federal Financial Market Service in Ural Federal District. ‘We processed 3,094 reports last year; due to the administrative pressure and monitoring policies we have to

‘The car sales went up this winter, which is actually not typical of this season. The customers appear to be particularly interested in the automobiles ranging from 330,000 RUR to 470,000 RUR, sales expert of UralFranceAuto auto show Anna Ekimova said to UrBC representative. ‘It takes our company three to four months to deliver a car to the customer, but the assortment we have here is also very impressive,’ Ms Ekimova said.

‘The car sales went up this winter, which is actually not typical of this season. The customers appear to be particularly interested in the automobiles ranging from 330,000 RUR to 470,000 RUR, sales expert of UralFranceAuto auto show Anna Ekimova said to UrBC representative. ‘It takes our company three to four months to deliver a car to the customer, but the assortment we have here is also very impressive,’ Ms Ekimova said.

‘The rating of Interregional Network Company (aka MRSK) is not taken into account by the investors at the moment,’ Andrei Korobitsin, Information Director of Blagodat Securities Investment Company, said to UrBC representative. According to Mr Korobitsin, this has to do with the current absence of the company’s shares on the market, which means investors have nothing to invest into. When the company is disaggregated, the number of shares will go up automatically, but the volume of the company’s funds is going to stay the same, so it will in the end become evident that attracting additional

‘The rating of Interregional Network Company (aka MRSK) is not taken into account by the investors at the moment,’ Andrei Korobitsin, Information Director of Blagodat Securities Investment Company, said to UrBC representative. According to Mr Korobitsin, this has to do with the current absence of the company’s shares on the market, which means investors have nothing to invest into. When the company is disaggregated, the number of shares will go up automatically, but the volume of the company’s funds is going to stay the same, so it will in the end become evident that attracting additional

Onyx chain store could not explain why two of their shops (located in Uralmash (north of the city) and at 101 Lenin Ave., right in the center of Yekaterinburg) closed down. The chain director Vladimir Bayazitov said to UrBC representative that those stores were not part of the chain, yet was unable to clarify why they had been using the company’s brand name. Mr Bayazitov found it hard to define the nature of relationship between Onyx chain store and those two shops; he also noted that the reasons why the stores had been using the brand were their company’s business. He did say, though, that

Onyx chain store could not explain why two of their shops (located in Uralmash (north of the city) and at 101 Lenin Ave., right in the center of Yekaterinburg) closed down. The chain director Vladimir Bayazitov said to UrBC representative that those stores were not part of the chain, yet was unable to clarify why they had been using the company’s brand name. Mr Bayazitov found it hard to define the nature of relationship between Onyx chain store and those two shops; he also noted that the reasons why the stores had been using the brand were their company’s business. He did say, though, that