The volume of private individuals’ deposits in Uralfinprombank had gone down by 9% since September 2008. These data are available from Bankir.ru’s report on the performance of Top 200 banks with the greatest volumes of private individuals’ deposits.

The volume of Bank Severnaya Kazna’s private individuals’ deposits had gone down by 22% since September 2008. These data are available from Bankir.ru’s report on the performance of Top 200 banks with the greatest volumes of private individuals’ deposits.

The volume of private individuals’ deposits in Bank24.ru had dropped by 20% since September 2008. These data are available from Bankir.ru’s report on the performance of Top 200 banks with the greatest volumes of private individuals’ deposits.

The Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Sberinvestbank to non-state for-profit organizations despite overdraft had plummeted by 58.34% (from 21.066 million RUR to 8.774 million RUR) by January 1, 2009.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Tagilbank to sole traders for up to thirty days had gone down by 100% (from 2 million RUR to zero) by January 1, 2009.

According to the Central bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Sberinvestbank to non-state for-profit organizations for 31 to 90 days had gone down by 90 million RUR (from 90 million RUR to zero) by January 1, 2009.

The Supervisory Board of Bank VTB 24 decided to convert some of its regional subsidiaries into simple operational offices. The decision to this extent involved the bank’s branches in Kazan, Perm, Kemerovo, Cherepovets, Nizhniy Novgorod, and Irkutsk.

Renaissance Credit Commercial Bank suggests that its customers pay off their loans in advance, so that the bank could buy out its own bonds it order to relieve is liabilities burden, Kommersant reports. A number of Renaissance Credit Bank’s borrowers have already received text messages with early payment proposals, while the bank’s hotline clerks explain to all the callers that the interest rate on the existing loans might be raised because of the economic crisis. Incidentally, this would fit in the framework of the loan agreement terms, the newspaper says.

Sberbank of Russia’s Ural branch sold over $60m worth of American Express checks in 2008. This means that these traveler’s checks’ sales have increased by more than nine times over the last five years, while the share of euro checks doubled and now comes to 30% of the total check volume. Traveler’s checks are most often used on trips and during some business transactions carried out abroad (like buying a car or a fur coat), since no limit is set on the amount of money one could carry abroad in the TC format. Then, some customers prefer to keep their savings in the form of traveler’s checks

Ural Airlines has recently gone for a price decrease on Moscow-bound flights. The tickets for flights operated on February 21-24, 2009 and March 7-10, 2009 will be available for only 1,800 RUR (per single ticket, excluding the adjustment rate). The special price is offered on both Yekaterinburg-Moscow and Moscow-Yekaterinburg flights, the company’s press officer reports. Tickets can be booked and bought via the airline’s website ( www.uralairlines.com), at the carrier’s booking offices, and authorized agents’ offices.

The Central Bank of Russia reports the volume of loans given by Plato Bank to non-state for-profit organizations for 1 to 3 years had gone down by 22.77% (from 31.973 million RUR to 24.69 million RUR) by January 1, 2009.

‘The current laws that regulate the security agencies’ activity in Russia are really out of date and need to be replaced. However, the proposed changes meet neither these agencies’ needs nor the dictates of the time,’ says Oleg Borisov, General Director of Europe-Asia Information and Consulting Center, President of Ural Center of Nongovernmental Security Institutions Association, and member of the Academy of Security, Defense and Law-and-Order. Borisov comments upon the legislation enforced in February 2009: ‘As a matter of fact, the new law limits the private security agencies’ options and

Moody’s (the international rating agency) has recently downgraded Alfa-Bank’s financial stability rating from D+ to D. At the same time, the bank’s foreign and national currency deposit ratings were affirmed at Ва1/Not, Prime, while its subordinated debt rating (in foreign currency) was also affirmed at Ва1. Nevertheless, all of these ratings have been placed on the Rating Watch, with Negative Rating Outlook. Moody’s explains the rating demotion has to do with the increasingly troubled state of the Russian macro-economy, which, in its turn, leads to the weakening of businesses’ assets. The

Moscow Court of Arbitration declined the claim placed with it by Home Credit and Finance Bank Ltd and ruled in favor of the Russian Federation Federal Antimonopoly Service’s decision to fine the bank for violating the antimonopoly legislation through unfair competition. The fine was imposed on the bank on December 18, 2008. The Federal Antimonopoly Service stated on September 18, 2008 that Home Credit and Finance Bank had violated Article 14 (part 1, paragraph 1) of the Federal Bill on the Protection of Competition (disseminating inaccurate or false data that could damage other businesses)

Bank Severnaya Kazna’s (now the asset of Alfa-Bank) two additional offices closed down on February 19, 2009. One of the outlets is located in Pervouralsk (35a Vatutin St.), another one could be found at 44 Uralskikh Rabochikh St. in Verkhnyaya Pyshma. This information is available from Bank Severnaya Kazna’s official website.

MICEX reports Baltika Beer Company’s common stock price dropped by 10.5%, or 46 RUR, in just one day. The price came to 436 RUR per share at the start of the day but went down to 390 RUR at the close of business on February 18, 2009.

The Bank of Russia’s PR Department reports that due to Yekaterinburg-based East European Financial Corporation –Ural Bank’s (Bank VEFK-Ural) inability to meet its creditors’ financial claims, the bank’s license was revoked on February 19, 2009. The decision was taken on the basis of Articles 19 and 20 (part 2, paragraph 4) of the Federal Bill on Banks and Banking Activity and supported by Article 74 (part 3) of the Federal Bill on the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (the Bank of Russia). Bank VEFK-Ural’s license was revoked by order OD 149 as of February 18, 2009. The bank was

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin signed a decree regarding the temporary halt on the scheduled checks of small businesses and sole traders. The spokesperson for the Governor reports that now all the controlling executive authorities (regional and federal alike) should stop inspecting the local businesses until July 1, 2009. The Governor explains the decision was taken in order to support and protect the small businesses at the time of a financial crisis. Sumin feels the region’s government has been putting a lot of effort into making the local economy more diverse over the last

‘The lack of transparency characteristic of a number of Maxi Group-related entities has lead to a clash between two of the business’s stockholders, namely, Nikolai Maximov and Novolipetsk Iron & Steel Works (NLMK). When the management is handed over from one proprietor to another, the process is normally associated with risks; for instance, the new owners might find themselves left with no more than the seals on the papers and the furniture in the office after all the documents have been signed. This is why one needs more documentation, like the loan and pawning agreements. Otherwise the

Sberbank of Russia’s Ural branch handled over $145m worth of foreign currency purchase and sale transactions in January 2009; this exceeded the figures for January 2008 by 2.5 times. ‘The foreign currency in cash is enjoying enormous demand right now; still, our customers can sell or buy a lot of dollars or euros in our seven Yekaterinburg-based offices with absolutely no hassle. What is more, we can offer them the so-called individualized (and more attractive) exchange rates,’ says Sberbank’s Ural branch’s Currency Transactions Director Sergey Bobryashov. In fact, Sberbank’s Ural branch can