The Expert magazine’s column on Russian banks featured a list of Russian regions with the greatest numbers of plastic cards issued by the local banks in January-March 2007. Sverdlovsk Region was No.4 on this list, with the volume of all the card transactions amounting to 53.709 million RUR (against 409.749 billion RUR in Moscow and Moscow Region that topped the rating). Tyumen Region, with its 91.681 billion RUR worth of transactions, was declared Russia’s third greatest bank card user, and Chelyabinsk Region, with its 24.246 billion RUR worth of transactions, was given the sixth place on the

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by GRAN Bank to natural persons for 91 to 180 days went down by 77.6% (from 5.415 million RUR to 1.213 million RUR) in January-August 2007.

SKB-Bank’s volume of deposits came to 6.486 billion RUR in January-June 2007, which made it possible for the bank to get on Russia’s Top 100 largest banks list as well as the list of Ural Federal District’s Top 10 banks in terms of private individuals’ deposits, the bank’s press officer reports.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank to sole traders despite an overdraft account went down by 51.94% (from 4.898 million RUR to 2.354 million RUR) in January-August 2007.

According to Sunrise Iset’s Commercial Director Vyacheslav Kuznetsov, Microsoft is not going to lose its share of the market in any way. ‘Expecting that Microsoft can get hurt through competition with anybody is simply nonsensical, since the company has remained, and has always been, the monopolist on the market. Proportionally, there is no way Linux can affect the way Microsoft products sell, since their share of the market is very tiny. It may well be that people will actually stop using Windows some time in the future, but this surely won’t happen over the next few years,’ he says. As for

A solemn ceremony devoted to the shutting down of Karabashmed’s third and last shaft furnace took place in Karabash, Chelyabinsk Region. The ceremony was attended by the plant’s top executives, the oldest workers, the mayor of the town and the town council deputies. A group of metallurgists made a little show of completing their last melting operation and extinguishing the fire in the furnace. As the plant’s press officer said to UrBC, their three shaft furnaces had been operating for nearly eighty years and were replaced with some new, hi-tech, and environmentally friendly equipment

The value of net assets of Energy – Mixed Investments (the unit investment trust) managed by Eurogreen Management Company Ltd. went down by .55% between September 11, 2007 and September 12, 2007. According to Eurogreen’s website, the company’s net assets decreased from 4,816,736.27 RUR on September 11, 2007 to 4,843,330.8 RUR on September 12, 2007.

SKB-Bank decided to celebrate its eighth anniversary by raising the effective interest rate offered on its Gold Standard deposit. ‘Even though banks have been lowering their interest rates on deposits lately, SKB-Bank decided to go for the opposite, since we are trying to remain a client-friendly business. I believe this ‘gift’ is going to make our customers quite happy; a bank deposit, after all, is still the most reliable way of both safekeeping your money and making it bring you some income,’ SKB-Bank’s Deposits Director Denis Belogurov observes. ‘As a matter of fact, this is not the only

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Pervouralsk Joint Stock Commercial Bank to natural persons for 1 to 3 years went down by 11.9% (from 30.531 million RUR to 26.898 million RUR) in January-August 2007.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by SberInvestBank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 1 to 3 years went down by 16.02% (from 122.011 million RUR to 102.471 million RUR) in January-August 2007.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of natural persons’ deposits and investments in Ural Interregional Bank valid for 1 to 3 years went down by 21% (from 67.638 million RUR to 53.438 million RUR) in January-August 2007.

‘Microsoft is going to lose its monopolistic stance on the Russian market; even now, a number of businesses in quite a few cities, including Yekaterinburg, are switching to alternative software, which means some competition is starting to build up. As regards high schools, they are busy introducing Linux-based operating systems in their computer labs; Russian distribution kits are now based on Linux ASP, Linux XP, and Linux Manriva,’ Dmitriy Amirov of Cift Competence Center said to UrBC. The Russian Federation Minster for IT and Communication Leonid Reiman announced that all school computers

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Yekaterinburg Municipal Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for over 3 years went down by 58.09% (from 16.82 million RUR to 7.05 million RUR) in January-August 2007.

Following the decree of Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin, a committee on developing the schemes of supplying natural gas to the region in 2007-2030 was set up. The committee is chaired by First Deputy Governor Vladimir Dyatlov and consists of the Minister of Industry and Natural Resources Evgeniy Teftelev, the Minister of Economic Development Yuri Klepov, the Minister for Construction, Infrastructure, and Roads Valeriy Shopov, and experts from a number of gas-supplying enterprises. As the demand for natural gas is on the increase and the region’s gas facilities need to be developed

The spokesperson for Evraz Group reports the overhaul of the arc furnace gas cleaning facility was completed at the foundry shop of West Siberian Metallurgical Industrial Complex (part of Evraz Group). Both the company’s workers and the employees of Zapsibenergoremont (the company’s contractor) replaced three cleansing units with the new ones and installed a new gas-purifying unit designed and developed by Proyekt Engineering Center (part of West Siberian Metallurgical Industrial Complex) in the course of fifteen days. In addition, new equipment supplied by Barnaul-based Energomashkorporatsia

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel sent the region’s draft budget for 2008 to Sverdlovsk Region Legislative Assembly. The proposed budgetary bill provides for nearly 108 million RUR worth of revenues and for the same amount of budget expenditures; no budget deficit is expected. The Governor is expected to make a presentation on the draft budget in the course of the Legislative Assembly meeting on September 20, 2007.

The judicial inquiry regarding a group of fraudsters who used forged documents to get loans from Home Credit and Finance Bank Ltd and Russian Standard Bank began in Yekaterinburg. The first court hearing took place in Sverdlovsk Region Court a few days earlier. The court’s press officer reports the hearing resulted in the reading of the bill of indictment and an announcement regarding the start of the inquiry. The next hearing has been scheduled for September 23, 2007. The group’s leader Yuri Saiyan is a first-time offender with a college degree; there were eleven people involved in the fraud

Andrei Volchik, Chairman of Severnaya Kazna, has once again sold a portion of the company’s stock. His share in the enterprise’s authorized capital went down from 4.534% to 1.687%. As a result, the company got a new shareholder through General Director Maxim Kostyuk’s acquiring Mr. Volchik’s shareholding. Mr. Kostyuk’s share in the company’s authorized capital now comes to 2.847%. Mr. Volchik has numerously reduced or raised the number of his shares before; the last such change took place on July 26, 2007 when his share in the company’s authorized capital was reduced from 5.413% to 4.534%.

Sverdlovsk Region Health Minister Mikhail Sklyar left office, Head of the Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Administration Alexander Levin announced in the course of United Russia Party’s conference in Yekaterinburg. Mr. Levin added the Governor accepted the minister’s resignation.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by GRAN Bank to sole traders for 181 days to 1 year went down by 28.99% (from 443.16 million RUR to 30.651 million RUR) in January-August 2007.