According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by AGROPROMBANK Credit to profit-making self-regulatory organizations went down by 49.7% (from 770.281 million to 386.904 million RUR) in January-June 2007.

Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant and Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (ChTPZ Group’s largest tube and pipe manufacturers) supplied their consumers with 971,000 tons of tubular goods in the first half of 2007, which is 28% better than in January-June 2006 when the figure only came to 761,300 tons. ChTPZ Group sold 539,000 tons of tubes and pipes in the first half of the year, which exceeds the figures for a year earlier (that is, 414,300 tons) by 30%. These figures include a 39% increase in the amount of large-diameter pipes: it came to 302,600 tons compared with only 217,100 tons of LDPs in

SKB-Bank evaluated its performance in January-June 2007 and found very impressive growth figures. The bank’s net assets amounted to 23.7 billion on July 1, 2007, which is 5 billion more than on January 1, 2007; its loan portfolio went up by 5.6 billion RUR and thus reached 15.9 billion RUR. What is more, SKB-Bank managed to attract much more resources: these rose by 4.2 billion RUR and amounted to 21 billion RUR. The volume of natural persons’ deposits and investments came to 6.5 billion RUR. Following this year’s additional share issue, SKB-Bank’s authorized capital now comes to

URALMASH Machine-Building Corporation was officially registered in Yekaterinburg in compliance with the federal law requirements, the spokesperson for United Machine Building Works/OMZ (aka Obedinennye Mashinostroitelnye Zavody, formerly United Heavy Machinery) reports. URALMASH was set up as a joint venture run by United Machine Building Works/OMZ (Uralmash-Izhora Group) and Metalloinvest Management Company on an equal footing. The new company comprises OMZ’s Yekaterinburg-based UZTM (Ural Heavy Machine Building Plant), Uralmash-SpetsStal Ltd., OMZ DRO, and OMZ Crane Ltd., and

Autoland Holding (the major investor in the Ford Center motor show) admitted the center was set in operation even though there were some faults in it. ‘It was reported that the builder failed to provide the construction authorities with all the documents they needed, which can be classed as an administrative offence,’ Autoland’s Marketing Director Natalia Nagornova said to UrBC. ‘The authorities therefore imposed a fine on both the builder and their customer, and the former promised to supply them with the whole set of papers,’ she noted. Ford Center started operating on June 21, 2007 despite

SKB-Bank has always tried to meet the growing demands and needs of customers of all sorts. This is true of the bank’s VIP premium class clients as well; these customers can now enjoy the outstanding quality of service Elite-Bank (conveniently located in the center of Yekaterinburg) offers them, SKB-Bank’s press release states. The new bank takes pride in providing very strict confidentiality and an exceptional level of comfort: every customer is assisted by a personal manager, which is certainly much nicer than having to speak to a teller trough a bullet-proof window. A competent expert is

On July 15, 2007 Bank24.ru started issuing unusual cards that are 43% smaller than the ones people living in Yekaterinburg are used to. These new cards can be used for cashless payments in supermarkets and stores as well as for withdrawing money from one’s bank account or topping it up with the help of Bank24.ru’s tellers (the cards are not suitable for ATMs). Besides, Visa mini comes in handy if you want to pay for your online shopping. ‘Bank24.ru’s Visa mini cards are quite different; they change the way we think about a standard plastic card. Even the very design of these minis was bright

So far this year, the officers of Nizhniy Tagil-based Customs have filed 6 criminal suits related to smuggling of cars and 304 administrative suits against various types of offenders; this has already resulted in over 8.5 million RUR worth of fines. The total cost of automobiles and other vehicles that the accused meant to have smuggled is estimated at 3.808 million RUR. In the meantime, the Customs’ investigative forces whose job is to fight and prevent economic crimes conducted 129 special inspections (including 17 inspections that were done with the support of other law-enforcement

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel chaired a meeting devoted to the prospective development of Sverdlovsk Region-based members of EvrazHolding; the meeting was attended by the company CEO Alexander Frolov. It was reported in the course of the meeting that some 21 billion RUR had been invested in those enterprises’ re-equipment and renovation over the last three years, with the same amount of money received by the region’s budget. Over the next five years, the budget is expected to get at least 36 billion RUR, and EvrazHolding is apparently planning to invest 40 to 50 billion RUR in

A criminal suit was filed against some employees of Nizhneserginskiy Hardware Plant who were charged with safety violations on May 11, 2007; the case is going to be heard in court soon, Public Prosecutor of Revda Alexei Titov said to UrBC. These safety violations resulted in a major blow-out of steam that was emitted by the steel-smelting furnace. Eight people were wounded, with one of them passing away later on and two victims getting very badly hurt. It has already been proved that the furnace started malfunctioning as early as May 7, 2007; even though the management knew about the problem,

Sverdlovsk Region Duma deputies are going to decide whether to approve of the candidacy of the new Public Prosecutor of Sverdlovsk Region on July 24, 2007. The nominee candidate is Yuri Ponomarev, who is currently employed in the capacity of Public Prosecutor of Kostroma Region. Former Public Prosecutor of Sverdlovsk Region was appointed head of Ural Interregional Transport Prosecution Authority beginning from July 1, 2007; the corresponding order was signed by Prosecutor-General Yuri Chaika on June 8, 2007.

395,200 square meters worth of housing were commissioned in Sverdlovsk Region in January-June 2007, which exceeds the figures for a year earlier by 27.7%. As regards Yekaterinburg, local builders put up 170,500 square meters worth of housing in the first half of the year, which makes up 43.1% of all the dwellings put up in the region; this is also 21.3% better than in January-June 2006. The share of sole builders amounted to 225,100 square meters, which exceeds the figures for a year earlier by 40.2%. The share of private houses amounted to 57% of all new dwellings compared to 51.9% in

The regional division of Rostechnadzor (the state technological safety watchdog) conducted 42 targeted inspections of builders in January-June 2007 (which was done at the requests of both individuals and businesses) and kept supervising 2,534 overhauls and construction sites. Kommunstroy Ltd., Dom Ltd., and Nova-Stroy and Nova–Stroy Ltd. executives will now have to undergo enforcement, Rostechnadzor’s press officer reports.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by SberInvestBank to profit-making self-regulatory organizations for 31 to 90 days went down by 40% (from 75 million RUR to 45 million RUR) in January-June 2007.

Chelyabinsk Region held a nursery schools contest a little while ago. The first such event, initiated by Governor Petr Sumin, took place last year. This year, ten municipal schools and ten rural nursery schools have won, leaving behind the other twenty-five competitors (sports schools, biology clubs, art schools, and other educational facilities for both children and teenagers). All the schools employ innovational programs and can boast students who win regional, All-Russian, and international competitions on regular basis. The spokesperson for the Governor reports that twenty 250,000-ruble

Sverdlovsk Region Government considered an action plan on mortgage lending development in the region and decided to try and raise Sverdlovsk Mortgage Lending Agency’s authorized capital to 1 billion RUR by 2010. Documents to this extent should undergo final editing and will then be sent on to the Russian Federation Construction and Housing Maintenance and Utilities Agency.

The newly appointed head of Rostechnadzor (the state environmental and technological safety watchdog) Anatoly Sidyakin was allowed to retain his position of Yekaterinburg Municipal Duma Deputy. ‘The federal law does not say one cannot be a local government’s deputy and a civil servant at the same time,’ Yekaterinburg Municipal Duma’s press officer said to UrBC.

The Russian Federation President signed the bill that changed some of the points in the federal law on currency regulation and control: there are no limits on the amount of foreign currency close relatives can send to each other in the form of money orders any longer. According to SKB-Bank’s Commission-based Services Director Lyudmila Belyaeva, this is a reasonable and expected measure taken by the state in order to make such money orders more ‘liberal’. Prior to the bill, people could only send up to $5,000 abroad every day, and no money orders using foreign currency were legal in Russia.

Alexander Travka might be appointed head of the Ural division of the State Aviation Surveillance Agency. Mr. Travka is now employed in the capacity of deputy head and is probably getting the final approval in Moscow at the moment. He is thus going to succeed Anatoly Telegin, who retired on July 16, 2007.

Sberbank of Russia’s Ural branch handles more foreign currencies now: one can, for example, sell or buy RMB (Chinese yuans) or Japanese yens at the bank’s headquarters at 11 Moskovskaya St., Yekaterinburg. Yens are also dealt with in the bank’s offices at 1 Vainer St. and 4 Yasnaya St. Sberbank sells and buys Ukrainian hryvnias in eight of its Yekaterinburg-based offices located in different parts of the city (including the one at 11 Moskovskaya St.. 68 Lenin St., and 43 Chernyakhovskiy St.). ‘What is more, the number of offices dealing in Swiss francs, Canadian dollars, and Czech korunas has