20 March 200809:10

Ural Airlines offers first scheduled flight to Italy

Ural Airlines is to start operating the carrier’s first scheduled flight to Italy on April 27, 2008 using A-320 aircraft’s business class. It will take the passengers 5 hours and 20 minutes to get from Yekaterinburg to the destination point. ‘The local business community has a lot of important ties with the Italian companies. There are five representations of foreign companies and more than ten joint ventures with Italians’ investments operating in Mid-Urals at the moment. Moreover, two Italian giants, Duferco and Stoppani, have shareholdings in Sverdlovsk Region’s major enterprises, while
20 March 200809:08

Koltsovo airport needs another filling station, Governor says

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel announced in the course of a monthly meeting on the local construction projects that he decided to solve the problem of jet fuel in Koltsovo airport once and for all. ‘Ours is Russia’s most expensive jet fuel, so Ural Airlines’ aircraft get filled in Moscow now because it’s cheaper,’ the Governor said. Mr. Rossel believes an additional filling station is needed to create competition, which is expected to help the fuel price go down. The Governor said they might use LUKoil to set up the airport’s second station.
20 March 200809:06

Academic construction project meets schedule, Stanislav Pridvizhkin reports

The Academic construction project manager Stanislav Pridvizhkin reported in the course of a monthly meeting on the local construction projects that their project met the schedule just fine. The construction process began in October 2007. The first part of the project to be completed will be block 2.3 - a block of 1,075 apartments and underground parking lots fit for 700 cars with all the necessary engineering, housing maintenance, public services, and commercial infrastructure. Yekaterinburg’s future district was designed so as to meet the predicted 30% increase in the number of cars used by
20 March 200809:05

MMK launches new managerial technique

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) is currently implementing a new technique known as the Balanced ScoreCard System It took the company’s experts, assisted by CIFT and Deloitte Touche representatives, two years to develop this innovation that is still widely underused by Russian industrial enterprises. Launching BSC means MMK and the country’s metallurgical industry in general are improving on their management and approaching the international standards. MMK’s PR Department reports BSC makes it possible to set a company’s strategic goals in very clear figures, so every employee’s
20 March 200809:00

Ural Airlines offers six flights to Moscow daily

‘Ural Airlines currently operates up to twelve flights to Moscow; now, thanks to the flights becoming more frequent, our customers can choose the best option for them and plan their business trips with the greatest possible convenience time wise,’ the airline’s press officer said to UrBC. ‘The recent increase in the number of flights involves week days mainly. The newly added flight leaves Yekaterinburg at 9.30 AM and takes off in Moscow at 11.30 AM,’ the press officer said. The company’s complete timetable is available at One can book and buy a ticket either through any of the carrier’s
19 March 200809:19

Only one-eighth of project done for Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, Ivan Rabtsevitch reports

‘Sverdlovsk Region received 1.650 million square meters of housing last year, while this year’s program provides for 2 million square meters of housing, 112 kilometers of highways, eight hospitals, a dozen schools, three kindergartens, and 20 kilometers of power transmission lines,’ head of the regional division of the state construction monitoring authorities Ivan Rabtsevitch announced at a press conference on March 18, 2008. ‘The region has over 2,000 construction sites at the moment, most of which have serious quality problems. About 20% of all the buildings do not meet the obligatory
19 March 200809:17

VUZ Bank has 101.079 million RUR of overdue debt on consumer loans in March 2008

VUZ Bank had 101.079 million RUR worth of overdue debt on the consumer loans offered to the bank’s customers on March 1, 2008, which is 24.31%, or 24,570,000 RUR greater than on January 1, 2008. The share of overdue debt in the bank’s loan portfolio thus came to 3.4%. This information is available from a report on the growth dynamics of consumer loan portfolios of the largest banks located in Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Tyumen Regions as well as in Perm Territory in January-February 2008. The report can be found on Bank Severnaya Kazna’s official website.
19 March 200809:15

Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development raises interest rates on deposits

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development came up with a new offer for businesses and organizations on March 17, 2008. The new, increased interest rates on deposits mean the bank’s customers can now make the best of their capital and get the greatest return on investments. The interest rates were raised for the current Liquid and Fixed-Term deposit schemes as well as for the U.S. dollar deposits. In addition, the bank launched new attractive deposit schemes known as Great Profit and 13 for 13.
19 March 200809:11

Experts from Moscow and provinces are equally skilled, Oleg Borisov says

‘Today’s technologies make it possible to collect data and manage a number of processes virtually anywhere on the globe, including Yekaterinburg. This is one of Russia’s largest cities, a major junction point as well as a logistics terminal with unique geographical position. A great many important Russian businesses’ head offices are based in Yekaterinburg,’ Oleg Borisov, the General Director of Europe-Asia, the information and consulting center, said to UrBC explaining why the company’s headquarters were located in Yekaterinburg. ‘Like in any other business, the thing that matters most is
19 March 200809:07

SKB-Bank’s Chair takes part in economic forum in Switzerland

Chairman of SKB-Bank Mikhail Khodorovskiy took part in the Russian economic and financial forum in Zurich, Switzerland on March 16-17, 2008. The agenda of the forum was reported to cover issues like the state of Russian economy, the country’s socio-economic developmental potential in 2008-2010, the results of the presidential and Duma election campaigns, the major development directions and challenges of Russia’s financial system (the banking and the insurance sectors), and trying aspects (including legal ones) of international economic and financial cooperation. The forum was attended by the
19 March 200809:05

Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank has 32.935 million RUR of overdue debt on consumer loans in March 2008

Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank had 32.935 million RUR worth of overdue debt on the consumer loans offered to the bank’s customers on March 1, 2008, which is 8.5%, or 2,800,000 RUR greater than on January 1, 2008. The share of overdue debt in the bank’s loan portfolio thus came to 2.9%. This information is available from a report on the growth dynamics of consumer loan portfolios of the largest banks located in Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Tyumen Regions as well as in Perm Territory in January-February 2008. The report can be found on Bank Severnaya Kazna’s official website.
19 March 200809:01

Bank24.ru might sell shareholding of Nizhniy Tagil plant

‘Any asset has a price, and the shareholding of the problematic Nizhniy Tagil-based plant is no exception,’ Bank24.ru’s Deputy Chairman and CEO Boris Dyakonov said to UrBC. In the meantime, it has been unofficially reported that the bank intends to sell the plant’s shareholding it currently owns. ‘We are considering a few proposals at the moment, and some of these look suitable in terms of both the sum offered and the contractor’s reputation. Bank24.ru’s BOD members can use a number of strategies, including selling this asset, but we haven’t come up with any final decision yet,’ he added.
18 March 200809:07

MMK to put up metallurgical enterprise in Turkey

The construction process of MMK Atakaş A. Ş., a Russian-Turkish joint venture, began in the course of a solemn opening ceremony in Iskenderun, Turkey, the spokesperson for Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) reports. The ceremony was attended by the Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Nazým Ekren, Russian ambassador in Turkey Vladimir Ivanovskiy, MMK Chairman Viktor Rashnikov, and Atakaş CEO R. Atakaş. Mr. Rashnikov said in his welcoming remark that the project was important for both MMK and Atakaş’s strategic plans as well as for Russian-Turkish cooperation as a whole. MMK and Atakaş decided