‘The notion of bank secrecy appeared in 1990, but, since it was quite a long time ago, some problems appear to arise due to a possible legal loophole: on the one hand, the authorities are allowed to demand that the banks produce records that can be classed as a secret, on the other hand, the banks are allowed to refuse to do so in some cases. This is why the legal definition of bank secrecy is still a burning issue,’ the Deputy Chairman of Ural Bankers’ Union Evgeniy Bolotin said to UrBC representative, relating to the recent proposal by the State Duma Deputies about the limitation of the

Sverdlvosk Gubernskiy Bank started accepting Union Card payments for mobile service and satellite televison on December 8, 2006. The payments can be made in Yekaterinburg, Asbest, Nizhniy Tagil, and Sukhoi Log. The Union Card holders living in these towns can now make payments to MTS, Beeline, MegaFon, BaikalWestCom, Motive, Tele2-Russia, Skylink, and NTV-Plus. The bank will start dealing with payments to MegaFon Ural, Utel, and some other companies in the near future. The bank has already been accepting Visa and MasterCard for such transactions via 74 ATMs in Yekaterinburg and Sverdlovsk

SibAcademBank summed up the results of its activity in the eleven moths of 2006.. The bank’s net assets grew by 27% in November and amounted to 75,323m RUR on December 1, 2006, which exceeds the figures for January-November 2005 by 3.2 times. Their balance sheet total came to 99,050m RUR on December 1, 2006, which is 3.6 times better that a year earlier. The bank’s equity basis reached the point of 9,286m RUR, which exceeds the figures for December 1, 2005 by 3.7 times. Their loan portfolio and corporate portfolio have also grown by 3.5 times and 2.9 times, respectively in one year, with the

‘We don’t believe raising tobacco produce prices is going to result in the cheap cigarette shortage or even disappearance,’ the Planter Department Director of Omega Spirits Ltd. Dmitry Shlayen said to UrBC representative relating to the increased tobacco prices imposed due to the excise duty stamps becoming more expensive starting January 1, 2007. ‘This increase is not the one of a large-scale sort, the prices are not going to soar dramatically, and, besides, the customer will still have a choice in terms of prices, since the expensive kinds of cigarettes are to grow more pricey as well, and

The interregional department of Rostechnadzor (the technical safety monitoring authority) in the Ural Federal District is to inspect the compliance of the regional mining companies with the safety requirements in the course of trolley-handling in the grooves before December 10, 2006. These inspections have to do with the death of an employee of Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company that occurred in Severnaya mine of Berezovsk Ore Management Ltd. belonging to the company. The investigation of this accident has already been completed. According to the spokesperson for Rostechnadzor, the

‘Our company has been using MegaFon Ural since 2003. We decided to cooperate with them because it is MegaFon Ural that always offers its clients most attractive terms among those available on the market,’ the General Director of UralPromOborudovaniye Production Association Andrei A. Besedin said to UrBC representative. ‘We are fully satisfied with their policy, namely, coming up with a unique kind of approach to each client. Our company has a personal manager who handles all the issues related to providing mobile services to us. In addition, this manager takes into account all the proposals

‘We have no complaints in terms of the quality of electric appliances and phones produced by Panasonic. Yet we are already experiencing some problems with the supply: our shop can now offer less than it used to, and the delivery has been delayed. If our dealers actually stop supplying the goods of this company altogether, our sales will drop dramatically, as Panasonic has a very large share of the market that is not going to be made up for by any other producers. No other company, for example, can offer so many private branch exchanges and the same value for the money,’ the spokesperson for

‘The need for the gradual growth of the insurance companies’ capital was emphasized in the existing legislation long time ago; the insurers who find themselves unable to raise their capital are driven out of the market, and their leave remains largely unheeded,’ says Valeriy Poroshin, Deputy Director of Ingosstrakh Insurance Company in Yekaterinburg. ‘Increasing the company’s authorized capital is crucial to enhancing its stability, reliability, and solvency. I believe the first companies to be affected by this will be the local, so-called ‘pocket’ companies set up by large industrial

‘Large federal banking networks normally merge and launch a re-branding campaign in order to become more easily recognized. This brand recognition determines the ‘penetration level’ essential to the market competition. Another reason to opt for re-branding is getting ready for a public offering of the bank’s shares,’ reports the General Director of Blagodat Securities Investment Company Vsevolod Chaschin on the re-branding campaigns by some Russian banks. When they do re-branding, the banks hope to hit a particular target audience, a group of clients who reflect the new bank’s strategy. Times

‘The increase in the excise duty might lead to the shortage of cheap tobacco produce,’ the Merchandise Expert of Megamart Trade Center Andrei Kholmanskikh said to UrBC representative, commenting on the excise duty stamps becoming more expensive starting January 1, 2007. ‘This may happen due to the fact that some of the producers will fail to switch to the new stamping,’ Mr Kholmanskikh observed. ‘There is little our trade center can do on its own: if the suppliers manage to do everything on time, we’ll have no shortage,’ he noted.

According to the Bank of Russia, the Russian crediting organizations have issued 1,797,000,000,000 RUR worth of consumer loans by October 1, 2006, of which 85% are the ruble loans. This means that the ruble loans are currently six times more popular than the foreign currency ones. According to the Central Bank of Russia, the most popular kinds of loans are the ruble ones given for a term of six months to 1 year (the number of such loans is three times greater than that of the loans given for a term of over 3 years). Today, crediting is the most dynamically developing banking product.

‘The investigation of HydroSpetsStroy (the general contractor of Noviy Grad, the developer) activity is still going on,’ the Head of the Investigative Division of the department of internal affairs in Yekaterinburg (Leninskiy District) Irina Overina said to UrBC representative. ‘We have seized their accounting documents and searched their office, so now we have some new data for the inquiry. The information is now being processed,’ Ms Overina said. The Department commenced criminal action against the General Director of Noviy Grad Yuri Repeta on May 22, 2006.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, the volume of loans given by UralTransBank to natural persons for a term of 181 days to 1 year went down by 29.7% (from 513,314,000 RUR to 360,434,000 RUR) in January-November 2006.

‘We need new ways of providing financial services to our customers,’ President of Association of Regional Russian Banks and State Duma Deputy Anatoliy Aksakov announced at the opening ceremony of All-Russian Financial E-office Forum. ‘Also, we should develop the network of small financial enterprises and credit cooperatives dealing in giving micro-loans to individual customers. It would be good to use post offices located in Russia’s every large village. E-banking, e-insurance, and other e-services are another important field, hindered, however, by the fact that all insurance agreements must

‘The further the ROSNO-UralTransBank conflict unwinds, the harder it is to hit the reputation of both parties and that of the financial market on the whole. There is nothing whatsoever positive about two regional and even federal brands being stuck in a controversy of such sort. The reason for this lies, most likely, in the underperformance of the legal experts who initially drew up the contracts. This conflict could have been avoided if these contracts contained certain points,’ claims Investments Director of Management Company CJSC Alexander Metzger. The dispute between ROSNO Insurance

‘Retailers’ combining against Panasonic has nothing to do with us. Our shops don’t sell DECT-standard phones, the ones that Panasonic mainly produces. This company officially stopped supplying its GSM-phones in Russia one year ago, so we don’t have those either,’ the Commercial Director of Simphonia retail chain Andrei Starodubtsev said to UrBC representative. Russia’s largest retail chains dealing in consumer electronics (EuroSet, Svyaznoy, Eldorado, M.Video, TechnoSila, and Mir) came up with a statement accusing Panasonic of supplying illegally produced or imported appliances that do not

A subsidiary of SKB-Bank was set up right in the centre of the town, at 72 Svobody St. in Chelyabinsk. ‘All the banking services for both businesses and individual clients are available at this new office. The residents of Chelyabinsk will probably be interested in the loan schemes that are already popular with people of Yekaterinburg, such as Loan for a Friend and Loan for Buddies, as well as our mortgage offers and deposit schemes (The Simple Decision and The Multiplication Table),’ said the Director of the subsidiary V. Putin. This subsidiary is SKB-Bank’s 52nd Russian office, alongside

The Honorary Consulate of the Republic of Austria was opened in Yekaterinburg on December 7, 2006. The ceremony was attended by Martin Vukovitch, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Austria to Russia, reports the press officer for the Governor of Sverdlovsk Region. This is Austria’s second Honorary Consulate in Russia, and it is going to service Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, and Tyumen Regions as well as Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamalo-Nenetsk Autonomous Regions. The commodity turnover between Sverdlovsk Region and Austria has increased by over 60% in the nine

‘Re-branding campaigns carried out by banks are becoming more and more common. The re-branding of a bank must result in management that is more effective and be both client- and employee-oriented,’ says Natalia Kungurova of Mediator Ltd. ‘Re-branding as such is not something done for its own sake any longer; rather, it is the indispensable component of the bank’s economic policy, such as a merger or a takeover. Judging by the recent campaigns, the quality of re-branding gets better every year, and we can already see the results of the wise economic and marketing steps of some banks,’ Ms

‘We’ve been successfully cooperating with MegaFon Ural, the mobile phone operator, for a few years now,’ the General Director of Agava Ltd. Georgiy Erman said to UrBC representative. ‘This mobile operator provides reliable connection all over Russia; we also like it that they are offering hi-tech extra services that can positively influence the development of a business,’ Mr Erman observed.