Yekaterinburg dwellers willing to have their rubles exchanged for euros find themselves having to pay at least 40 RUR per euro at the moment; a number of local banks even sell the euro at 41 RUR apiece; these are: Uralfinprombank; Industrial and Trade Bank (PROMTORGBANK); Mega Bank; Bank Soyuz; Bank Vyatich; Baltiyskiy Bank. The U.S. dollar now costs at least 28.75 RUR apiece, with Bank Vyatich selling this currency at 30 RUR apiece. In the meantime, the official dollar and euro rates have been determined by the Bank of Russia t 28.3359 RUR and 39.6674 RUR, respectively.

‘SKB-Bank’s new Patriot deposit was introduced as recently as two weeks ago (on December 8, 2008), but it has already proved extremely popular with customers. ‘1.09 billion RUR worth of deposits has been attracted in just a fortnight,’ the bank’s press officer reports. This deposit offer is unique in that it combines great profitability with a short deposit period: the latter only comes to 100 days. One has to deposit at least 10,000 RUR, with the annual interest rate coming to 16.01%. One can also open a foreign currency deposit. What is more, UAZ Patriot, the off-road vehicle, will be

URSA Bank’s Ural branch increased the interest rate offered on private customers’ ruble deposits on December 18, 2008. The bank’s deposit type range now varies from deposits valid for 31 days to those valid for 3 years (1,116 days). At the moment, the maximum interest rate on Savings ruble deposit comes to 15% a year; the maximum rate offered on The Magnificent Seven, Special, and Retirement Plus deposits comes to 13% a year. The actual rate depends on the amount of money in the deposit and on the deposit period chosen by the customer. ‘We raised the interest rates on ruble deposits in order

About a half of previously approved projects might not get the promised financing from the Investment Fund until 2010, the Ministry of Economic Development’s Investment Policy Director Dmitriy Levchenkov reports. ‘We have been considering postponing the financial aid to some of the projects from 2009 to 2010. About ten projects might be involved in this change altogether,’ he said. One of these projects is the one on the industrial development of the Urals’ north (known as The Industrial Urals-The Polar Urals). This means no money might be provided for carrying out an expert examination or

‘The prices for tours offered to foreign visitors who’d like to visit Yekaterinburg in April and May 2009 haven’t been even determined yet, even though our partners abroad keep asking for the price list. No European firm would ever sell a tour without a certain price, so this leads to our losing a lot of customers from Germany,’ Sputnik Yekaterinburg International Travel Agency’s Regional Travel Director Alla Galaktionova said to an UrBC reporter. ‘As far as this year is concerned, it was Germany that the lion’s share of foreign travelers arrived from in Yekaterinburg in January-September

Sberbank of Russia’s Ural branch issued its 3,000,000th bank card recently. ‘This is a major event for our bank, since we managed to reach this record extremely rapidly: our 2,000,000th cardholder was congratulated on getting this very special card as recently as one year ago. Setting such records is a pleasure we are always eager to share with our customers,’ Sberbank of Russia’s Ural branch’s Bank Card Management Director Svetlana Skorinova said to their happy 3,000,000th cardholder. In fact, every other family living in the Urals is using Sberbank’s cards at the moment, with over 3,000

‘The share of non-core assets that our newly bought banks used to run is insignificant on our Group’s scale. So the better part of these bank’s assets is quite manageable. The thing is, a number of their management’s mistakes led to their inability to promptly react to the dramatic deposit outflow,’ Probusinessbank’s President Sergey Leontiev said in the course of his interview to Kommersant. Probusinessbank (aided by the Deposit Insurance Agency, the state-run corporation) acquired Gazenergobank and Bank24.ru that had experienced grave liquidity problems. ‘Firstly, the banks’ management did

Standard & Poor’s, the international rating agency, demoted Alfa Bank’s contractor’s long-term credit rating from BB to BB-, while Alfa Bank’s national scale rating was decreased from ruAA to ruAA-. The bank’s long-term rating was affirmed at B, with Stable rating outlook. ‘This drop has to do with the Russian economy and the banking sector’s systemic risks that have affected Alfa Bank’s business and prospects somewhat badly. For one, the bank’s asset quality, resource base, and capitalization got worse, causing the business’s profitability to decrease,’ says Standard & Poor’s analyst

Ural Airlines came up with an updated website version to mark the carrier’s 65th anniversary. The Internet address has remained the same (www.uralairlines.com), but the design and the structure of the website underwent dramatic improvements. The decision to go through with the site update was taken after a marketing research carried out among the passengers in the spring. The most important sections are now available right on the main page; these are ticket booking and delivery, additional services like booking a taxi or special meals and hotel reservations. Some other essential pieces of

‘We do not intend to help any other bank recover financially. This is rather hard and not always expedient, since the ‘illness’ tends to be catchy,’ Uraltransbank’s Chairman of the Supervisory Board Valery Zavodov announced in the course of a press conference in Yekaterinburg on December 22, 2008. At the same time, the executive did admit Uraltransbank might actually acquire some bank. ‘The money obtained from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Foreign Trade Bank (VEB) will be directed to real sector lending. We are even prepared to offer loans to small and medium-scale

The Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District Nikolai Vinnichenko met with Ural Federal District’s Governors to discuss the way the global financial crisis has affected the district’s socioeconomic development. ‘The banking business is now back on the track, with most banks operating as usual. Their performance indicators, however, are far from the ante-crisis status quo. As far as private customers are concerned, we can see that people no longer cash in and close their deposits, while getting a loan is becoming increasingly harder for a private

‘In case the time for your monthly loan payment falls on January1-10, 2009 (the official bank holiday recess), the deadline is put off until January 11, 2008. Also, if you really feel like paying early, the Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development suggests that you should use one of the bank’s cash-in ATMs that will be operating during the first days of the year 2009. To do this, you have to find out what the payment sum is, then choose the Additional Services heading on the ATM display, press Loans, then Debt Under Credit. Likewise, you can make your payments in the bank’s offices on

Investtrade Bank’s Board of Directors decided to close down its Yekaterinburg representation. The proposal was accepted by a unanimous vote.

The members of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Board of Directors decided to give up on their remuneration starting January 1, 2009. This decision will be valid through the entire term of their office. MMK’s BOD Chairman Viktor Rashnikov is reported to say that the decision stems from the need to cut down on the company’s expenses at the difficult time of the global financial and economic crisis. The executive explains that the BOD members showed a lot of understanding and gave up on their remuneration voluntarily. The company’s Board of Directors members are: MMK Management

SKB-Bank considered the recommendations issued by Financial Access (the company that supported the introduction of international business standards within SKB-Bank upon the request of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, one of SKB-Bank’s stockholders) and set up a special Internal Audit Department, the bank’s press officer reports. The introduction of the new subdivision is aimed at supporting the bank’s internal control development and improvement while the business keeps on expanding. The Department aims to assess the efficiency and the quality of the bank’s risk

Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank’s Board of Directors suggested that Sergey Prygunov should become the bank’s Chairman of the Supervisory Board. At the moment, this candidate is the current Chairman’s first deputy and used to be SKB-Bank’s Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board for Retail Lending. ‘Sergey Prygunov is an experienced manager that proved highly efficient at running SKB-Bank’s key business segment. Now he is to implement the recovery plan Sinara Group came up with for Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank’s troubled finances. This plan provides for a dramatic improvement of the bank’s financial

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Club 66 came up with a new co-branding VISA card project. The bank’s latest card edition combines trendy design with the whole range of discounts Club 66 offers to cardholders, the bank’s press officer reports. VISA UBRD-Club66 cardholders thus get entitled to modern and multifunctional banking service and can also enjoy the discounts in over 150 places in Yekaterinburg. What is more, this co-branding card also gives you an opportunity to take part in special offers and lotteries conducted by the members of Club 66. In case you have the

MSA a.s., the major Czech pipeline fittings manufacturer (part of Rimera, ChTPZ Group’s O&G maintenance division) has been given a certificate that proves the company’s products’ compliance with the Ukrainian standards. Getting the certificate means MSA a.s. is now allowed to supply its 100 mm to 1,400 mm globe valves capable of sustaining up to 25 megapascals for oil and gas pipelines. The certificate was issued by Ukraine’s State Committee for Technical Regulation and Consumer Policy. ‘Getting our produce certified in accordance with the Ukrainian requirements is a logical step on the

‘I am positive that, under the current economically unstable circumstances, quite a few Russian carriers are going to survive this winter. A lot of them might have to leave the market,’ Ural Airlines’ General Director Sergey Skuratov announced in the course of a recent press conference. ‘We are already getting proposals from some smaller market players who suggest we could merge. Then, we had a merger proposal from Aeroflot as well, but we backed out of this offer. I believe our company is strong enough to get through the crisis and remain an independent entity,’ Skuratov said.

Ural Airlines’ General Director Sergey Skuratov spoke about the carrier’s performance in 2008 and its plans for the coming year at a press conference aboard A 320 airplane that arrived at the company’s premises on December 12, 2008. This year, the airline has kept on implementing its long-term fleet replacement program. The company bought as many as four A 320 Airbus planes in 2008, so it is now the proud owner of six such planes altogether. ‘The airline’s fleet upgrading will carry on next year as well. We’ll be operating between ten and twelve A 320 aircraft by the end of 2009. Agreements