Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UralFinPromBank to sole traders for 91 to 180 days dropped by 50.90% (from 27.5 million RUR to 13.5 million RUR) in January-August 2008.

According to the findings of an interactive survey SKB-Bank conducted via its official website, people tend to think of the bank’s current ad campaign as ‘the people’s’ one. This was the epithet given to the ads by about five hundred respondents. SKB-Bank has been using the Soviet-style poster ads, united by a common slogan that reads, To the Bright Future! for over half a year now. ‘This advertising campaign fully meets all the goals we had in mind when launching it: the ads create a very memorable image of a bank as of a company close to the people, especially to the most financially active

‘We recently went for wholesale, rather than retail sales of our banking services in the business package format. This means our customers can now choose among several ‘lending schemes’ or ‘subscription offers’ depending on which package best suits their needs at the moment. A customer can pay once a month or even once a year and get the access to all the necessary services they won’t have to worry about paying for every time they need them. This approach benefits both the bank and the customer: our partners can get the kind of service that is as customized in accordance with their needs as

Ural Airlines announced they were going to reduce the fuel fee for Turkey-bound flights on September 10, 2008. The carrier’s latest provision 7.1-298 as of September 4, 2008 cancels their earlier one 7.1-203/1 as of June 26, 2008 and states that the fuel fee will come to ?31 per ticket for flights operated to Antalya or Dalaman from Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, or Perm using A 320 and TU 154M aircraft. If IL 86 is used, the fuel fee will amount to ?36. This means the fee will drop by 25.6%, 25.8%, and 20.5% for planes taking off in Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, and Perm, respectively. ‘The fuel

Starting September 5, 2008, MegaFon Ural, the major mobile operator, is going to update its subscribers on the exact time. The company’s customer can thus always find out the exact time within the region they are currently in, the company’s press officer reports. To use the service, one has to call the USSD number 166#; the offer is available for all of MegaFonUral’s subscribers located within the home network coverage area and costs .5 RUR (all taxes included).

The Far Eastern division of Rostechnadzor (the state environmental, technological, and nuclear safety watchdog) examined the premises of Baltika-Khabarovsk (Baltika Beer Company’s subsidiary) and detected a number of violations related to maintenance of boiling facilities and electric installations. The inspectors also checked the condition and maintenance of hazardous facilities and chemical engineering units. The inspection resulted in a special surveillance report, while the company’s management was ordered to eliminate all the violations within a fixed time period.

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development was rated Russia’s 34th largest loan broker by RosBusinessConsulting. The agency’s experts looked into the banks’ MICEX and RTS trading activity involving Russian companies’ securities in July 2008. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s trading turnover came to $281.27m, which was nearly 1.5 times better than $188.01m-turnover in June 2008. What is more, the bank was given the 25th position on RTS FORTS Top 100 players list in July 2008. RosBusinessConsulting did not employ any market turnover figures for this one in the research,

Ural Airlines’ Commercial Director Kirill Skuratov signed an order decreasing the fuel fee for the company’s Egypt-bound flights on September 5, 2008 after Hurghada Airport has reduced its jet fuel prices for the third time already. The fuel fees have dropped several times over the last three months; the latest price of $42 (987 RUR) is a result of a 34.4% reduction since the beginning of the summer season. As for the Egyptian airports, after the two earlier decreases their jet fuel prices went down by 13% altogether. ‘Most market players felt strongly opposed to the fixed fuel fee price

Sverdlovsk Region’s dwellers owe local banks more than 131 billion RUR worth of ruble loan payments, the Bank of Russia’s official website states in the regional supplement to the banking statistics bulletin. The data are valid as of July 1, 2008. The region’s legal entities owe banks over 287 billion RUR at the moment.

‘After the outbreak of the Ossetian-Georgian conflict and the opening of the Olympics the ruble turned into devaluated currency in comparison with the other ones, especially the U.S. dollar. This has to do with Russia’s increasingly strained relations with the rest of the world,’ Eurogreen Investment Company’s General Director Evgeniy Kostarev said to UrBC. According to Tomorrow’s calculations, the ruble/dollar exchange rate came to 25.13 RUR per 1 dollar on September 4, 2008. This exceeds the official figures for the day by.26 RUR. In the meantime, the dollar rate against the ruble has been

Investbank Joint Stock Commercial Bank’s Supervisory Board released the BOD Chairman Alexei Sveshnikov from office; besides, Sveshnikov is no longer going to be the BOD member. First Deputy Chairman Maxim Skochko is to become acting Chairman on September 8, 2008. Maxim Skochko was entitled to acting on the bank’s behalf without designation of authority.

Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (part of ChTPZ Group) underwent re-certification audit by TUF CERT and proved the compliance of its EN and DIN standard-based boiler tubes with the European directive 97/23 and AD 2000 W0/TRD100 technical requirements. ‘We needed to have our weldless tubes and pipes certified in accordance with these requirements due to the stable demand for these goods; besides, one has to have such a certificate in order to deliver one’s produce to the EU,’ the enterprise’s press officer says. The certificating body’s experts examined the enterprise’s main production shops

‘A bank’s customer is normally interested in having the services customized as much as possible to suit their unique needs and in getting a special treatment. A bank, in its turn, would like to have its services universalized, as every out-of-the-ordinary solution makes it harder to get things standardized and thus results in greater transaction expenses. Ironically, both the bank and the customer will end up paying for this in the end,’ says URSA Bank’s Deputy GD Daniil Sandler. The bank executive feels the solution to the problem lies in thinking up new ways of mutually beneficial

A special offer for shoppers will be available at Sberbank’s Ural branch from September 1, 2008 to October 31, 2008. All you have to do is use the bank’s card any time you purchase anything that costs 300 RUR or more. Eight most regular card users will be presented with travel certificates, while another 2,000 cardholders will get 300 RUR in their bank card accounts, the spokesperson for the bank says. All the holders of Sberbank’s Ural branch’s cards are most welcome to take advantage of this special offer, valid throughout Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Kurgan Regions and in Bashkortostan.

VIZ Stal delivered a formal statement regarding the acquisition of 70.93% shareholding in Verkh-Isetskiy metallurgical plant.

Ural Treasures Bank introduced CyberPlat, the e-payment system, on August 27, 2008. The system has been around for over nine years now and is Russia and the CIS’ largest service of this kind. It’s also one of the most reliable and smooth-operating ones, the bank’s press officer says. CyberPlat terminals have been installed in the following offices: 14 Gagarin St. Yekaterinburg; 136 Lunacharskiy St. Yekaterinburg; 41 Sacco & Vanzetti St. Yekaterinburg; 13 VIZ Boulevard Yekaterinburg; 476 Volgogradskaya St. Yekaterinburg; 17 Academik Schwarz St. Yekaterinburg; 32 Griboedov St.

RBC.Rating came up with the results of Russian banks’ performance in the first half of 2008. In addition to the other research aspects, the agency’s analysts looked into the banks’ advance portfolios and rated the companies on the basis of these and using the credit loss criterion. SKB-Bank was given the 11th position on the list of banks with minimum losses. RBC.Rating reports the bank’s loan portfolio losses were close to zero percent (the actual figure came to about 1 million RUR over January-August 2008). To compile the rating, RBC.Rating’s analysts used off-balance sheet accounts 917 and

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Tagilbank to non-state for-profit organizations for 91 to 180 days dropped by 67.35% (from 21.44 million RUR to 7 million RUR) in January-August 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Ural Innovational Commercial Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations despite current account’s overdraft plummeted by 100% (from 3 million RUR to zero) in January-August 2008.

According to the Modern Urban Infrastructure Research Institute’s survey, 78% of Yekaterinburg’s dwellers believe transportation problems are the city’s principal trouble at the moment. 72% feel the main problems are of environmental nature, while 45% of respondents claim a modern and accessible social infrastructure is needed badly, that is, new hospitals, kindergartens, and schools. As for the good things about the city, the locals report employment and entertainment opportunities are Yekaterinburg’s strongest points, with 52% and 50% of respondents ranking these as the city’s top bonuses,