SKB-Bank celebrated its 18th anniversary on November 5, 2008. ‘We’ve come a long way over these eighteen years. We are one of Russia’s largest provincial banks by now, and the sun never sets on our hundreds of offices in the countries’ nine time zones. We have some prominent shareholders to fall back on, and we are trusted by hundreds of thousands of customers. Besides, we take pride in our close-knit team of loyal professionals,’ SKB-Bank’s Chairman of the Supervisory Board Vladimir Pukhov said. ‘There is more to this anniversary than simply a celebration day and another step on the way of

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Tagilbank to private individuals despite overdraft dropped by 20.05% (from 11.496 million RUR to 9.191 million RUR) in September 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by VUZ Bank to sole traders for 31 to 90 days went down by 71.97% (from 3.5 million RUR to 981,000 RUR) in September 2008.

Moscow, 5 November 2008 – UC RUSAL, which owns a 25% plus two shares stake in Norilsk Nickel, is issuing this statement to voice its concerns about the announced buy back of shares by MMC Norilsk Nickel worth of RUB 26 billion despite the Krasnoyarsk region's arbitration court ordering that such action be blocked. On 28 October, copies of the documents issued by the Krasnoyarsk region’s arbitration court ordering an immediate halt to any transactions in the framework of the buy back of Norilsk Nickel shares were presented to the company's Moscow office. This fact is proved by the

Moscow, 5 November 2008 – UC RUSAL, the world’s largest aluminium and alumina producer, is pleased to announce that it has received a USD 4.5 billion credit facility from Vnesheconombank (VEB) to refinance the loan received in April 2008 from a syndicate of foreign banks to finance the acquisition of a 25% plus two shares stake in MMC Norilsk Nickel. The credit facility is provided for one year with an option to extend it at the discretion of the advisory council of Vnesheconombank. An interest rate of LIBOR+5% was agreed. The credit facility is backed by UC RUSAL’s stake in Norilsk Nickel.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of private individuals’ demand deposits and other investments in VUZ Bank went down by 22.04% (from 68.679 million RUR to 53.538 million RUR) in September 2008.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of private individuals’ demand deposits and other investments in SberInvestBank dropped by 38.74% (from 7.293 million RUR to 4.467 million RUR) in September 2008.

Ural Airlines came up with a special offer in November: every tenth customer who chooses to pay for their airplane ticket through Yandex.Money is going to be given one of the following: a free Internet and cable TV subscription certificate and three months of prepaid Internet traffic and cable broadcast by Stream Yekaterinburg. The offer will be valid through December 31, 2008. The passengers who used their tickets in November 2008 will be awarded on December 1, 2008, while those who used the airline’s services in December will receive their presents right after New Year’s Day, the

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Uralprivatbank to private individudals for 91 to 180 days dropped by 46.26% (from 2.142 million RUR to 1.151 million RUR) in September 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Perviy Respublikanskiy Bank to private individuals for 91 to 180 days plummeted by 100% (from 1.229 million RUR to zero) in September 2008.

Thanks to the code sharing agreement it has with Czech Airlines, Ural Airlines will be able to operate more Yekaterinburg-Prague-Yekaterinburg flights during the winter holiday season. The flights to Prague will be available from December 27, 2008 to January 2, 2009. The plane takes off at 4.30 AM and arrives in Prague at 5.15 AM. Then, an additional flight will be offered on January 11, 2009 (departure at 5.30 AM, arrival at 6.15 AM) as well as on January 12, 2009 (departure at 7.55 AM, arrival at 8.45 AM), the spokesperson for Ural Airlines reports. Prague-Yekaterinburg flights will be

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UralTransBank to sole traders despite overdraft went down by 24.09% (from 24.663 million RUR to 19.923 million RUR) in September 2008.

‘It was decided that Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank should merge with SKB-Bank,’ Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel announced in the course of a traditional monthly press conference. ‘SKB-Bank’s representatives are now trying to attract another 6 billion RUR in addition to the loan they have already received,’ Eduard Rossel added. ‘SKB-Bank’s experts are already working at Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank. I cannot tell you about all the details of the transaction, since the merger has not been completed yet,’ he said.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Ural Innovational Commercial Bank to private individuals for 1 to 3 years dropped by 15.95% (from 3.282 million RUR to 2.713 million RUR) in September 2008.

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development raised its assets by 30% in January-September 2008, so the figure now comes to 50,086,524,000 RUR. The bank’s balance sheet total rose by 61.5% on October 1, 2008, while the amount of money in the bank customers’ accounts went up to 34,747,336,000 RUR; this figure includes a 20.1% drop in the amount of money in the private customers’ deposit accounts. The bank’s own funds increased by 26.4%, the spokesperson for the Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development reports. ‘The region’s financial system proved more resistant to market fluctuations

‘The Central Bank of Russia has officially confirmed our bank’s additional share issue, which means our earlier stock is now seen as paid for and retired. METCOMBANK’s authorized capital has thus doubled from one to two billion RUR, while its total capital comes to about three billion,’ METCOMBANK’s BOD Chairman Rustam Mamatov said to an UrBC reporter. ‘This increase in the authorized capital is by no means an emergency measure; rather, it is a part of our development strategy adopted as early as last year. The extra share issue was registered quite a long time ago, and we can now see its

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of private individuals’ demand deposits and other investments in UralTransBank went down by 15.10% (from 132.105 million RUR to 112.147 million RUR) in August-October 2008.

Chelyabinsk Region’s housing construction output proved greater than the country’s average in January through September 2008; the figures were quoted at the Top Priority National Projects Council’s meeting on October 21, 2008. All in all, 937,000 square meters worth of housing were put up in the region over the nine months of 2008, which exceeded the figures for a year earlier by 20%. At the same time, the country’s average growth only came to 5% compared to 2007. Chelyabinsk Region’s is Ural Federal District’s No.2 in terms of housing construction, preceded only by Tyumen Region, with its

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin decided to raise the authorized capital of South Ural Housing Construction and Mortgage Corporation by 500 million RUR; the announcement to this extent was made at the Top Priority National Projects Council’s meeting on October 21, 2008. This means the corporation’s authorized capital will thus reach 2.6 billion RUR. The spokesperson for the Governor reports the money is to be spent on the implementation of two major housing projects. Firstly, a portion of the sum will be used to buy out the mortgages from the banks. Secondly, the completion of the

SKB-Bank’s BOD Chairman Mikhail Khodorovskiy met the Bank of Russia’s First Deputy Chairman Alexei Ulyukayev to speak about the financial status quo in the Urals and to discuss the Ural banking system’s future prospects, SKB-Bank’s press officer reports. ‘The Bank of Russia’s support of the region’s key banks is a strategic step on the way to improving Russia’s entire economy,’ SKB-Bank believes.