According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Bank24.ru to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 31 to 90 days went down by 72% (from 12.5 million RUR to 3.5 million RUR) in December 2007-January 2008.

URSA Bank has recently launched the new version of www.ursabank.ru, the company’s official website, as part of the bank’s brand introduction strategy. Changes are mostly related to website’s design. The site now looks brighter, more spacious and lightsome and therefore corresponds with the bank’s working style and image much better, the bank’s press officer reports. The site developers were trying to make it as user-friendly as possible, taking into account the region-specific features and the symbolic dichotomy of the bank’s Siberian and Ural divisions. The website offers the bank’s

The volume of SKB-Bank’s net assets came to 29.48 billion RUR on February 1, 2008, which is 11.3 billion RUR better than a year earlier, while the bank’s loan portfolio increased by over 12 billion RUR and amounted to 18.67 billion RUR, the bank’s press officer reports. SKB-Bank managed to attract 26.15 billion RUR worth of investments (including 8.94 billion RUR worth of private individuals’ investments) by February 1, 2008. The bank thus does better than most regional bank and is, in fact, Sverdlovsk Region’s No.1 bank in terms of consumer loan volumes.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the international auditing company, announced it was going to set up an office in Yekaterinburg. The decision to this extent was made at PriceWaterhouseCoopers Auditing Department’s representative Stanley Ruth’s meeting with Deputy Mayor of Yekaterinburg Viktor Konteev. Mr. Konteev’s press officer reports the council is already looking for the suitable premises, and the company is planning to make a presentation on their activity to the local business community very soon. Mr. Ruth says PriceWaterhouseCoopers is planning to attract investments on the car parts market,

Uralprivatbank’s consumer loan portfolio decreased by .4% and came to 3,317,729,000 RUR in January 2008. These data are available from a report on the dynamics of consumer loan portfolio growth of the largest banks in Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Tyumen Regions and Perm Territory in January 2008 to be found on Bank Severnaya Kazna’s official website.

Bank Severnaya Kazna’s Board of Directors decided to go through with the additional issue of 6,170,000 ordinary registered uncertified shares with face value of 10 RUR apiece, while the price of the shares was determined at 162.075 RUR per share. This share issue will probably be acquired by East Capital Explorer Financial Institutions Fund AB the day after the issue has been registered by the state. This information was provided by the bank in compliance with the demand that any issuer and/or a joint stock company must promptly reveal any data related to their activity that might influence

UralTransBank’s own funds went down by .9% in January 2008 and reached 1,675,587,000 RUR on February 1, 2008. These data are available from a report on the performance of the largest banks in Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Tyumen Regions and Perm Territory in January 2008 to be found on Bank Severnaya Kazna’s official website.

According to the National Managers’ League’s official website, the share price of Az-Capital (the unit mixed investment trust run by Management Company) went down by 9.57% (from 1.60085 RUR to 1.44764 RUR per share) between December 29, 2007 and January 31, 2008.

'All the construction work done within the framework of preparations for the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Yekaterinburg meets all the town planning and land code requirements. All the projects are subject to very strict control and expert assessment by both the regional and federal authorities. Only after the project has been approved of by the officials and experts and the land has been officially allotted for it, can the city’s construction authorities allow the building process to start,’ the spokesperson for the Mayor Konstantin Pudov reports. According to Mr.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Uralfinprombank to sole traders for 91 to 180 days went down by 15.18% (from 32.42 million RUR to 27.5 million RUR) in December 2007-January 2008.

'On February 21, 2008, the shareholders of Nizhniy Tagil Boiler and Radiator Unit Plant will start considering which candidate could be appointed the enterprise’s general director. Even the BOD members haven’t got all the personal data on these candidates yet, which is why it’s very surprising that the BOD member Boris Dyakonov claims he’s got evidence of one of the candidate’s (whose name is Pavel Vasilyev) incompetence,’ the plant’s Legal Issues Director Irina Sytnik says. The BOD meeting on the upcoming elections of the company’s GD took place on February 15, 2008, whereupon some

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations despite overdraft went down by 56.22% (from 276.459 million RUR to 121.033 million RUR) in December 2007-January 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Bank Uralsib to state-run for-profit organizations for 31 to 90 days went down by 95.12% (from 179 million RUR to 8.3 million RUR) in December 2007-January 2008.

According to Bankir.ru’s ranking of Russian banks as of January 1, 2008, SKB-Bank was one of the country’s largest banks in terms of deposits made by private individuals. In fact, the Bank achieved Russia’s 54th best result, as its natural person deposit portfolio reached 8.6 billion RUR on January 1, 2008, which is 10% better than in December 2007 and 40% better than a year earlier. These results allow SKB-Bank to be still featured in the Top 100 rating as well as remain one of Ural Federal District’s leaders in terms of natural person deposit portfolio. The bank raised the interest rates on

'There are currently eleven Auchan hypermarkets in Moscow that welcome the capital’s ten million dwellers as well as four or five million people from Moscow Region. This means there is one Auchan store for every 1.4 million people there. At the same time, there are only 1.3 million dwellers in Yekaterinburg, and 400,000 people from the nearby towns come to the city to do their shopping. In the meanwhile, the local population’s income is 1.5 times lower than in Moscow. All this boils down to the following: one Auchan store in Yekaterinburg is enough to maintain the optimal balance among

'We’ll have to keep investigating the case of Bank VTB 24 and a number of insurance companies related to violation of the competition protection law,’ the spokesperson for the Federal Antimonopoly Service said to UrBC. The Service took legal action against Bank VTB 24, Rosgosstrakh-Stolitsa, Ingosstrakh, Voenno-Strakhovaya Company, VTB Strakhovaniye Insurance Company, Rosgosstrakh-Siberia, Rosgosstrakh-Severo-Zapad, Rosgosstrakh-Povolzhye, Rosgosstrakh-Tatarstan, Rosgosstrakh-Yug, Rosgosstrakh-Ural, Rosgosstrakh-Dalniy Vostok, Rosgosstrakh-Center, Rosgosstrakh-Accord, Russkiy Mir

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) raised its metal goods output to 12.2 million tons in 2007, the company’s BOD Chairman Viktor Rashnikov announced at a trade union meeting. The meeting took place in MMK’s Central Lab assembly hall, the main point on the agenda being Mr. Rashnikov’s report on the company’s production and investment activity in 2007 and the plans for the year 2008. Last year, the company produced 6.5% more steel and 7.6% more metal goods than in 2006. The 12.2 million tons of metal products were the company’s best-ever result. In addition, MMK sold 7.3 million tons of

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Perviy Respublikanskiy Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations despite overdraft went down by 58.13% (from 42.239 million RUR to 17.687 million RUR) in December 2007-January 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UniCreditBank to Russian Federation subjects and local governments’ financial bodies for 1 to 3 years went down by 10.38% (from 154.896 million RUR to 138.811 million RUR) in December 2007-January 2008.

Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant and Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (ChTPZ Group’s largest tube and pipe manufacturers) supplied their consumers with 107,900 tons of tubular goods in January 2008, which falls short of figures for January 2007 (148,400 tons) by 27%. ChTPZ Group sold 58,200 tons of tubes and pipes in the first month of the year, which fall short of the figures for a year earlier (that is, 81,800 tons) by 29%. These figures include 34,200 tons of large-diameter pipes, which is 34% less than in January 2007 (51,600 tons). Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant delivered 49,700 tons of tubular