SKB-Bank set up its new branches in Kaliningrad and Krasnodar in order to render banking services to small and medium-scale businesses, the bank’s press officer reports. ‘The office is located in the old town, right inside the so-called Fish Exchange (a business center). In fact, we found ourselves within a stone’s throw of a great cathedral and the grave of the renowned philosopher Immanuel Kant,’ says SKB-Bank’s Kaliningrad branch’s director Dmitriy Tyurikov. SKB-Bank has already introduced its offices in twenty Russian Regions and is planning to go on to Khabarovsk, Yakutsk, Kazan, and

According to one Yekaterinburg dweller, Okami Vostok sells faulty Hyundai cars. Okami’s customer bought a Hyundai Accent with an air conditioner in March 2008; as soon as the hot summer days came, it became clear that the conditioner was not working. The car owner believes that despite the pre-sale preparation, the car sold by the dealer was initially defective. Okami Vostok explained to the unhappy customer that the delivery and installation of the part needed to fix the problem would take between fourteen and forty-five days within applying for repairs. Okami car centers are the official

Expert-Ural came up with a new rating assessing the Ural banks’ activity in the first quarter of 2008. The results of the magazine’s survey indicated that the Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development keeps growing rapidly in all financial respects. The bank’s net assets rose by 16% within the first quarter of the year, securing it the top rating position among Sverdlovsk Region’s banks. The bank’s loan portfolio went up by 15%, its own funds increased by 10%, its profits rose by 12%. ‘As a matter of fact, we usually prove to be Sverdlovsk Region’s number one bank in terms of private

Rimera (ChTPZ Group’s O&G maintenance division) bought 100% of Taimyrnefterazvedka, Taimyr Autonomous Region’s largest drilling enterprise. Taimyrnefterazvedka can currently boast a 70% share of Taimyr’s exploration drilling market; the enterprise sets up well sites in complicated mining and geological conditions where the rock pressure can be either anomalously high or low. Since 1964, Taimyrnefterazvedka has been able to launch oil and gas wells in fifty areas around Yenisei-Khatangskaya, Anabaro-Khatangskaya, Severo-Tungusskaya, and Pur-Tazovskaya oil-and-gas bearing provinces. All in

‘Poor legal protection of creditors (i.e. no legal instruments to help them get their loans back) is one of the indicators of an unstable consumer lending market. Illegal salaries that remain untaxed are another indicator: in case the bad debt suit gets to court, the money will be deducted from the borrower’s legal salary (which is much less than what the person actually makes),’ Sberbank of Russia’s Ural branch’s Private Customer Lending Director Vyacheslav Reshetnikov announced in the course of a round table discussion devoted to ways of enhancing Russia’s consumer lending market’s

Starting June 19, 2008, MegaFon’s customers subscribed to United tariff scheme can use the new Guest option. The offer can save money to customers who have relatives or business partners in different parts of Russia or abroad. The price of a phone call anywhere within Russia will cost you 3.9 RUR; international calls will cost you 6 RUR (VAT included). Depending on the scheme you choose (Long-Distance or International), your outgoing calls to Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldavia, Byelorussia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, China, Vietnam,

A conference on financial risk management and today’s approaches and innovational solutions in this field was held at the center for exhibition technologies in Yekaterinburg. The event was coordinated by the center itself, as well as Congress-Bureau of Yekaterinburg and Elite Corporate Conduct Club, and sponsored by Europe-Asia Information and Consulting Center. The conference was attended by businesses’ CEOs and proprietors, investors, experts from companies dealing in financial risk management, officials from the state-run public authorities, and employees of various legal and planning and

‘The ways and means of counterfeiting banknotes that fraudsters employ are extremely varied. At the same time, plenty of different ways to protect the notes have been designed and implemented by now. Yet people themselves also need to be careful when handling large portions of cash and large denomination banknotes. One has to know how to tell genuine money from counterfeit notes and has to put this knowledge to practice, while transactions involving a lot of money are better off when dealt with by banks,’ says SKB-Bank’s Operating Department’s Director Larisa Larionova. In the meantime,

Ural Federal District’s division of Rostechnadzor inspected the local ceramic goods plant for its compliance with the environmental legislation and revealed seventeen violations as a result. This includes management of hazardous waste and environmental decision-making performed by people without the necessary qualifications. Then, some unauthorized ceramic waste dumps (scrap tiles and the like) and bits of construction waste were illegally located on the company’s premises. To make matters worse, the plant deals in industrial and consumption waste treatment without proper licenses allowing it

SKB-Bank would be glad to see all the local reporters at the Q & A session chaired by the bank’s Chairman of the Board of Directors Mikhail Khodorovskiy; apart from the press briefing, some insights into the bank’s headquarters’ day-to-day operation will be provided. Visitors to the bank will get acquainted with SKB-Bank’s Elite-Bank (a VIP customer service division) and will also have a look at the bank’s safety vault and archives located in the basement as well as at the top executives’ offices. Then, a presentation of dealing rooms, cash-desk units, the data processing center, the

Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant’s stadium is currently hosting the preliminary stage of the city Leather Ball tournament, organized to celebrate the Metallurgist’s Day. Twelve children’s teams, including backyard clubs from Magnitka, Talitsa, and (for the first time this year) Bilimbai are competing for the place in the semi-final. The preliminary games will last for four days, with three backyard clubs playing each day. In the end, four strongest teams have to be selected, with valuable prizes for the winners. The Leather Ball’s semifinal and final games are to be played at the new sports-playing

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Ural Innovational Commercial Bank to private individuals for 181 days to 1 year dropped by 87.32% (from 9.206 million RUR to 1.167 million RUR) in January-May 2008.

While checking Tyumen customs’ compliance with the current legislation, Ural Federal District’s public prosecution authorities dealing in transport-related issues revealed that 201 TGM-4 track-laying vehicles from Ukraine went through the customs clearance between March 2004 and December 2007. The vehicles had the Russian Federation Ministry of Defense’s permits. The spokesperson for the public prosecution authorities reports the permits said that the vehicles should not be classed as military goods, as they had been subject to demilitarization and were fit for civilian use. ‘We requested the

Chelyabinsk Region’s division of Rostechnadzor (the state environmental, technological, and nuclear security watchdog) inspected a number of KB-473 tower cranes that were used by Legion-C and Legion in order to find the possible flaws and prevent their destruction, the spokesperson for Rostechnadzor’s Ural Federal District division reports. The inspections were brought about by a number of industrial accidents: on May 17, 2008, a KB-473 tower crane’s lower arm collapsed, leaving one worker badly injured. The accidents occurred at the intersection of Malyshev St and Lunacharskiy St, right in

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, 19.06.2008. The U.S.-based Reputation Institute reports Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) was put on World's Most Respected Companies in 2008 list. The list comprises two hundred entities. Says Renaissance Group’s Chairman Stephen Jennings: ‘The world’s rapidly developing countries provide a perfect environment for shaping some of the most successful business management practices and breeding new market leaders. This is why it is not only the fastest-growing economy and the assets and markets of rapidly developing countries that play the most important part,

Chelyabinsk-based SOT, a company dealing in production of pipeline bends and part of Rimera (ChTPZ Group’s O&G maintenance division), is now the proud owner of a license that allows the enterprise to produce machinery meant for nuclear power stations. The license was issued by Rostechnadzor (the state environmental, technological, and nuclear safety watchdog). Getting this license means SOT can now manufacture pipeline fittings that will be employed in the nuclear power industry. ‘The energy sector is on the rise now, new heat and nuclear power stations are being put up, while the

‘Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg will surely find it hard to prove that the recent increase in the price of the jet fuel was justified. The mere comparison of the European market’s prices and the Russian market’s ones makes it obvious that Koltsovo is not particularly good at dealing with financial issues; nor is it a very effective business,’ says lawyer Ivan Kadochnikov. ‘I believe that, unlike most other Russian airports, Koltsovo will be subject to a very thorough scrutiny. Firstly, this airport has already clashed with the Federal Antimonopoly Service and had to pay a 13-million-ruble

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in SberInvestBank valid for 1 to 3 years plummeted by 100% (from 1 million RUR to zero) in January-May 2008.

United Company RUSAL announced it was going to invest over $2bn in finding some new fields of application for aluminum and development of promising products. This is part of the global initiative on wider aluminum usage. UC RUSAL and the International Aluminium Institute are already accepting applications that meet the requirements available from their websites and invite the world’s leading universities and research centers to join in the project. This global initiative on innovational research is UC RUSAL and the IAI’s joint project that provides for three years of selecting the best ideas

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of call loans given by VUZ Bank to private individuals dropped by 32.52% (from 8.72 million RUR to 5.884 million RUR) in January-May 2008.