Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service put AS Bureau, a Yekaterinburg-based firm, on the dishonest suppliers list for evading the signing of agreements, the Service’s website reports. The business won in a tender on supplying some medicines on October 4, 2007 and was supposed to have signed a contract worth 2,452,283,000 RUR, but avoided doing so.

Uralsvyazinform, one of the Urals’ major telecommunications operator, organized a tender for financial organizations that could coordinate a loan for them on the international market on July 17, 2007. The results of the tender were summed up on August 23, 2007, and the company had to admit the tender failed because both the first and the second winners backed out of signing the contract, Uralsvyazinform’s press officer reports.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of self-regulatory financial organizations’ deposits in VUZ Bank valid for 1 to 3 years went down by 57.45% (from 38.5 million RUR to 16.380 million RUR) in January-October 2007.

The awarding ceremony for winners of the Russian tour of Entrepreneur Of The Year 2007, the international contest, was held in Moscow on November 23, 2007. URSA Bank’s Chairman Igor Kim won in the Master of Business category. The contest is coordinated by Ernst&Young as part of the international program known as Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards and has been held in Russia for the fifth time this year. It is believed to be the most prestigious and well-known competition in the field of entrepreneurship, aimed at acknowledging entrepreneurs’ achievements in both global and national

'Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg is going to get the regional authorities’ support regardless of their ownership status, as we are talking about one of the region’s key transportation facilities here, and the airport’s development is a crucial factor of the regional economy’s growth,’ Viktor Vasiliev of Finam Management said to UrBC. In the meantime, Sverdlovsk Region Government is about to sell a shareholding (of Koltsovo Invest by auction. The opening bid for the holding (25% and one share) has been determined at 249 million RUR. Bids will be accepted up to December 20, 2007, the

Siemens’s Sverdlovsk Region representative Lev Dubnov got three criminal charges regarding large-scale/organized crime group embezzlement, monopolistic policies/limiting competition, and abuse of power. Mr. Dubnov and Deputy Head of Yekaterinburg Municipal Council’s Healthcare Department are suspected of violating the law when purchasing medical equipment for the city’s hospitals.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UralTransBank to non-profit NGOs for 1 to 3 years goes down 35.4% (from 15.307 million RUR to 9.889 million RUR) in January-October 2007.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for over 3 years went down by 81.23% (from 586.125 million RUR to 110 million RUR) in January-October 2007.

Sverdlovsk Region’s first mortgage was given to the Larionovs, a local family, on November 27, 2003. This mortgage was coordinated by the regional Mortgage Lending Agency and SKB-Bank, thus making the latter a mortgage lending pioneer of the Urals. Over the next four years, the region’s mortgage market mechanisms grew to be fully functional and made it possible for the local citizens to improve their living conditions. Besides, mortgages keep receiving a great deal of governmental support, which has already led to the interest rates going down a few times. SKB-Bank began with an 18% annual

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by SberInvestBank to natural persons for 181 days to 1 year went down by 53.97% (from 6.331 million RUR to 2.914 million RUR) in January-October 2007.

Sverdlovsk Region’s First Deputy Minister of Natural Resources Galina Pakhalchak made a report on the state environmental monitoring of the region. The Ministry and the Environmental Monitoring Center inspected 1,416 businesses and organizations between March 2006 and October 2007. As a result, 924 administrative suits were filed against a number of environmental offenders. The spokesperson for the Governor of Sverdlovsk Region reports the activity of enterprises believed to be doing particularly a lot of harm to the environment is investigated by a special governmental committee. This year,

Those willing to buy a shareholding of Koltsovo-Invest that currently belongs to Sverdlovsk Region Government can send in their bids. The opening bid for the holding (25% and one share) has been determined at 249 million RUR. Bids will be accepted up to December 20, 2007, the auction itself will take place on December 24, 2007. The decision to sell the business was taken by the region’s Legislative Assembly as part of the new legislation on the management of state-run property in 2007.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Ural Innovational Commercial Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 1 to 3 years went down by 23.59% (from 100.429 million RUR to 76.74 million RUR) in January-October 2007.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Tagilbank to sole traders for 31 to 90 days went down by 100% (from 3 million RUR to zero) in January-October 2007.

Ural Treasures Bank came up with a special A Step Forward offer for its customers valid on December 4-17, 2007. The offer is available in all of the bank’s offices, excluding additional ones in Nizhniy Tagil, Novouralsk, Serov, and a subsidiary in Kurgan. The offer gives the bank’s borrowers (those who delayed a payment in terms of the main sum, the interest, or the commission) a chance to make the payments without any delay penalty. One just has to fill in an application to pay part of one’s debt or the whole sum.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Pervouralsk Joint Stock Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for over 3 years went down by 26.44% (from 8 million RUR to 5. 885 million RUR) in January-October 2007.

Small Business Development Center was set up by SKB-Bank in Yekaterinburg about a year ago; it was then seen as a special bank office where businesspeople could use the entire range of financial and accompanying non-financial services in the field of accounting, taxation, legal advice, and so on. 'The Center’s performance can be characterized as rather impressive: not only did the bank’s client database doubled, but the number of customers our partner companies obtained went up as well,’ SKB-Bank’s Small and Medium-Scale Business Loans Director Irina Kuzmina says. SKB-Bank decided to

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Bank UralSib to state-run for-profit organizations for 1 to 3 years went down by 87.7% (from 178.56 million RUR to 21.963 million RUR) in January-October 2007.

'Since the weather is usually so cold in the Urals, going to the seaside is one of the most popular ways of spending one’s vacation here. In the summer, people mainly go to Turkey, and in the winter, most of them head for Egypt. Egypt is popular because of four reasons: firstly, it’s quite an affordable place to go to, especially in November and December (that is, the months of last-minute travel). You can stay at a five-star hotel for a week, and it will only cost you 10,000 RUR,’ says Director of Inna Tour Travel Agency Inna Averyanova. 'Secondly, Egypt is a country where you can

URSA Bank came up with two new deposit offers: New Year Hit deposit scheme and New Year Present one. The latter is valid for 92 days, with the interest rate coming to 12% a year. The minimum amount of money you have to deposit is 30,000 RUR, and you can always top your deposit up. The interest is capitalized at the end of the deposit period. The deposit is mainly meant for the bank’s first-time customers. In addition, if you place at least 100,000 RUR with the bank, you are given a Visa Electron and/or a Visa Classic that you may use to get your interest. The New Year Hit deposit is valid for