URSA Bank took a two-tranche loan worth $125m altogether from the International Finance Corporation. The first $50m tranche was provided by the IFC itself for four years, while the remaining $75m were offered to URSA Bank in a syndicated loan format by the IFC, Citigroup Global Markets, and ICICI with the interest rate determined at LIBOR + 120 basis points for two years. URSA Bank reports this transaction signifies that the bank is trusted despite the current difficulties on the market and is capable of attracting resources at low interest rates. URSA Bank will use the money for trade

Bank VTB’s net loss amounted to 169.756 million RUR in February 2008; figures were compiled based on Russian Accounting Standards). Last February, however, the bank’s net profit came to 894.94 million RUR, while VTB’s losses in January 2008 reached 6.423 billion RUR.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Tyumenenergobank to self-regulatory financial institutions for up to 30 days dropped by 100% (from 100,000 RUR to zero) in January-February 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by VUZ-Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for up to 30 days went down by 97.02% (from 20.15 million RUR to 600,000 RUR) in January-February 2008.

The power stations and boiler houses belonging to TGK-9, the power generating company, supplied their customers with 4.9 million Gcal of heat last month, which is somewhat less than in February 2007, the company’s official report says. The enterprise’s Perm Territory subsidiaries, for instance, produced 1.9 Gcal of heat in February 2008, those based in Sverdlovsk Region produced 2.3 Gcal of heat, and those based in the Republic of Komi produced 699.3 Gcal of heat in February 2008. The company’s report contains no comments as to the reasons for producing less heating power, even though the

Ural Turbine Plant O&M Service and Ural Turbine Plant (members of RENOVA Group) signed a long-term mutually beneficial cooperation agreement with Belenergo, a state-run industrial enterprise that will now use the companies’ services to have their turbine-driven generators (based in Byelorussia) repaired and upgraded. 'This contract means we can now create a well-coordinated operating network on the CIS members’ energy markets, including the Byelorussian one,’ says Ural Turbine Plant’s O&M Service’s First Deputy GD Sergey Vasenin. The contract will be valid through the year 2012

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Uralfinprombank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 31 to 90 days went down by 63.06% (from 92.8 million RUR to 34.275 million RUR) in January-February 2008.

Olips, one of Yekaterinburg’s developers, has recently commissioned the first apartment block from Sozvezdiye complex in Belinskiy St.-Fuchik St.-Vosmoye Marta St. This eighteen-storey building with the total area of 9,842 square meters (94 apartments and 15 built-in compartments on the first, second, and third floors) is part of the total 80,000-suare-meter complex. All the apartments in the block have already been sold out; the company’s CFO Evgeniy Melnikov says this impressive demand can be explained by the nice location, developed infrastructure and proximity of a kindergarten, a school,

'METCOMBANK has always relied heavily on private investors’ money; our natural person deposit portfolio reached 4.9 billion RUR in 2007, which is 54.8% better than a year earlier. I thin this increase signifies people’s growing trust: after all, we’ve been inspected for compliance with the state deposit insurance system successfully,’ the bank’s Chairman Rustam Mamatov says. 'Besides, we’ve built up on our capital as well through a 1.5-billion-ruble additional share issue, which means we can now offer more loans,’ he notes. 'The global liquidity crisis that made it more

Ural Customs Administration handled $517.6m worth of imported goods in January 2008, with 55.5% of goods coming from the far abroad and 44.5% of goods coming from the CIS. In terms of weight, the total import volume came to 3.6 million tons, with 2.8% coming from the far abroad (100,800 tons) and 97.2% coming from the CIS (3.5 million tons). This is 65.7% and 20.4% better than in January 2007, respectively. Most goods arrived from Kazakhstan (37.1%), China (17.3%), Germany (9.7%), Ukraine (5.5%), Italy (5.3%), and the U.S. (3.3%), the spokesperson for Ural Customs Administration reports.

Ural Airlines looked into the results of its activity in February 2008. Last month, the carrier’s airplanes operated 714 flights, which is 19% better than in February 2007. The increase was most noticeable with the international flights, as their number rose by 45% compared to a year earlier and reached 126 flights all in all, the airline’s press officer reports. Apart from that, the number of domestic flights and flights bound for the CIS members grew as well: last months, Ural Airlines’ planes operated 532 domestic flights and 56 flights bound for the CIS members, which exceeds the figures

Rosgosstrakh, the insurance company, admitted that they never compensated a car crash victim. 'The law says that a car accident victim who wants to be compensated must personally provide the insurer with a number of papers from the local militia. These papers are necessary so that the company can decide the extent to which the victim might be guilty, which is essential in awarding damages. In case some harm was done to the victim’s health, he or she must supply an additional set of documents from a doctor and one’s employer. These rules apply to all the Russian insurers, and, given all

RusRating confirmed forty-three Russian banks’ credit ratings using the data available as of March 1, 2008. SKB-Bank’s credit rating was confirmed at BB-, which is better than the rating of many large Moscow-based banks. SKB-Bank’s rating was originally confirmed by the agency at B+ in August 2006 and was promoted to BB- in July 2007. The agency’s analysts say SKB Bank’s rating is based on the fact that SKB-Bank is a medium-sized provincial bank (one of the largest in Sverdlovsk Region, though) that has been cooperating intensely with the region’s authorities for a long time. In addition, it

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UralTransBank to state-run for-profit organizations despite overdraft dropped by 100% (from 5.967 million RUR to zero) in January-February 2008.

Yekaterinburg customs kept trying to detect cases of trademark abuse as well as prevent it in January-February 2008. As a result, two instances of transferring pirated goods across the state border were revealed, the spokesperson for Ural Customs Administration says. The goods in question (20,000 pieces of toys and sports gear) had Pepsi and Walt Disney logos and trademarks on them, with the total cost of the products coming to over $15,000. The trademark owner has already confirmed the fact that the logos were used illegally, which means the offenders will have to face administrative

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Bank24.ru to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for up to 30 days plummeted by 100% (from 30 million RUR to zero) in January-February 2008.

URSA Bank signed a thirty-six-million-dollar agreement with BSTDB of Greece for a term of seven years, as URSA Bank needed a loan to finance its mortgage lending operations. 'The financial sector is one of BSTDB's top priorities, and the bank is interested in promoting a competitive private segment on the Russian market. Our partner is one of Russia’s leading provincial banks, and the deal we’ve made will make it possible for URSA Bank to meet the Russian citizens’ growing needs for mortgages,’ says BSTDB's Vice President Andrei Kondakov. 'This transaction is part of our

The experts from Yekaterinburg Department of Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) inspected fourteen cosmetics manufacturers and sellers based in the central districts of Yekaterinburg last year, the Department’s press officer reports. It was revealed that a number of companies sold bottles of Taft hairspray (produced by Krasnaya Liniya based in Odintsovo, Moscow Region), Drakosha pineapple-scented kids’ shampoo and Lesnoy Balsam toothpaste/Fitovital TM (all produced by Yekaterinburg-based Concern Kalina), President whitening toothpaste (made in

'This year, the global liquidity crisis will keep affecting the banking community. Banks will focus on getting resources from both businesses and private individuals, as getting them on the international markets grew much more complicated. Therefore some increase in the interest rates might be expected,’ METCOMBANK’s Chairman Rustam Mamatov said to UrBC. 'At the same time, banks will grow stricter in terms of offering loans; the mortgage lending market will probably get rid of some minor players incapable of large-scale financing, while financial organizations without any resource

The analysts of the Delovoy Kvartal magazine’s Top Lists Book declared SKB-Bank Yekaterinburg’s Number One. Based on the results of Top List Book 2007/2008, SKB-Bank was awarded the banking market leader’s diploma, as it was Yekaterinburg’s most successful bank in terms of - volume of loans given to private individuals in the first half of 2007; - volume of loans given to legal entities in the first half of 2007; - volume of legal entities’ deposits; - the total number of subsidiaries and offices within Russia; - the total number of ATMs. The analysts report that, unlike the usual ratings