'Most people go to Turkey, Tunis, and Europe for holidays this year,’ Director of Avia Tour Travel Agency Ekaterina Khasyanova said to a UrBC reporter. 'Europe is a perfect way to combine rest and sightseeing; Turkey is a good place for a family holiday, given especially the fact that this country offers special entertainment and meals for children. This year, travelers going to Turkey or Tunis are largely staying at five-star hotels,’ Ms Khasyanova said. 'A lot of people keep going to Egypt - a country with a long record of hosting Russian holiday-makers,’ she noted.

URSA Bank’s balance sheet total grew by 3.5 times on July 1, 2007 compared to a year earlier; its net wealth rose by 3.1 times and amounted to 142.5 billion RUR. The bank’s loan portfolio rose to 99.6 billion RUR on July 1, 2007, which exceeds the figures for July 1, 2006 by 2.8 times. The company’s resources went up by 2.5 times. The volume of deposits increased by 2.1 times, coming to 40.7 billion RUR; this can be explained by the great effort the company made in order to attract more finances from individuals in the form of fixed deposits. URSA Bank’s retail deposit portfolio grew by 2.2

Central Bank of Russia reports the volume of money orders rose by 69% last year, with the better part of money transferred from rather than to Russia. Individuals living or staying in Russia, for instance, sent $6 billion abroad and only received $1.3 billion in 2006. Most of the money went to the CIS (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Armenia, and Moldova). People who sent money to Russia were mainly based in the countries of the far abroad. SKB-Bank’s Commission-based Services Director Lyudmila Belyaeva says the money generally goes from a richer country to a poorer one. ‘Most money orders

'Sverdlovsk Region Court of Arbitration will consider a claim laid by Sverdlovsk Region division of Federal Antimonopoly Service against Aviaprad,’ head of the regional division of Federal Antimonopoly Service Tatiana Kolotova said to UrBC. 'First and foremost, we would like this airline to produce the data on their founder members. We also want to know what price the carrier has to pay when buying fuel from Koltsovo airport. It has been reported that now the airport has got a new management, Aviaprad has to put up with higher fuel prices and is thus making its tickets more

The new French Consul General in Yekaterinburg will assume office on September 1, 2007, the spokesperson for the Governor of Sverdlovsk Region reports. The consulate itself will only start operating at the end of September. It is to be located in an information center in Karl Liebknecht St., with ten employees available to help the visitors.

'UIC Bank Ltd. is not unlikely to sell a large share in the company’s authorized capital to external investors, since the entire banking system is currently based on selling and buying banks as well as on bank mergers and takeovers. This is a natural thing to happen in a market economy, and it would be silly if we tried to stop it,’ UIC Bank’s Chair Svetlana Kolpakova said to a UrBC reporter. She did admit, however, that the bank’s board of directors was unable to clarify whether they were actually negotiating with anyone in terms of sale.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by SberInvestBank to profit-making self-regulatory organizations for up to 30 days despite overdraft accounts went down by 100% (from 30 million RUR to zero) in January-May 2007.

'This season, most tourists have been heading for Egypt and Turkey,’ Natalia Penkina, Director of Avenue Travel Agency, said to UrBC. 'These countries are well known for their relatively high quality of service, so people who’ve been there once usually recommend these places to their friends and relatives. Besides, the tours are quite affordable, with the average price coming to round about $800. Travelers normally choose to stay at four- and five-star hotels,’ Ms Penkina observed.

‘Sverdlovsk Energogas Company is planning to take part in a tender for guaranteeing power suppliers. There will be three lots available: the Northern Zone (covering the towns of Serov, Nizhniy Tagil, and some others), the Southern Zone (the power network around Talitsa), and the city of Yekaterinburg. The company is going to apply for all the lots,’ Sverdlovsk Energogas Company’s General Director Andrei Travkin announced at a press conference on July 9, 2007. 'There are seven guaranteeing power suppliers in Sverdlovsk Region at the moment. The rules of the tender state that any legal

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen: UralBusinessConsulting Agency of Information and Analytics moved to a new office on July 9, 2007 and is now located at 42 Khokhryakov St. Off 200. You can contact us via phone ( +7 (343) 376-48-78) or e-mail (urbc@urbc.ru).

Severnaya Kazna’s Internetbank (the e-banking service) appears to be having occasional operating troubles. 'The first alarming symptoms came about at 3.40 PM on July 6, 2007. We are now trying to locate the problem. The deadline for making your e-payments will be extended to 5 PM instead of the usual 4 PM today,’ the bank’s corporate website said. Severnaya Kazna has already had problems with its Internetbank project before: the bank said they had to struggle with it on June 14, 2007 and May 3, 2007. What is more, Severnaya Kazna mentioned some e-banking trouble on Sunday, April 29, 2007

The public prosecution authorities of Sverdlovsk Region filed a criminal suit related to abuse of power against a number of civil servants from Yekaterinburg municipal council. This was the result of an investigation conducted at numerous requests and applications made by both legal entities and individuals who were unhappy with the way the accused distributed land allotments for housing construction. It has been proved that the offenders had been making their decisions regarding the allocation of land without holding proper auctions, which was against the law and did great damage to both the

Central Bank of Russia reports the volume of loans given by Uralprivatbank to natural persons despite overdraft accounts went down by 9% (from 81.498 million RUR to 73.793 million RUR) in January-April 2007.

'Ford Center, a motor show built for Autoland Holding, still hasn’t had the building commissioned yet and got no operating permits. The city council is currently trying to draw the monitoring agencies’ attention to the problem,’ the spokesperson for Yekaterinburg municipal council Konstantin Pudov said to a UrBC reporter. The center was opened on June 21, 2007 despite the fact that it had no permission to operate. The permission, in its turn, was missing because Archstroynadzor (the architectural and construction safety watchdog) refused to approve of the results of the construction.

The value of Bank URALSIB’s assets decreased by over 10% in April-June 2007, dropping from 565 billion RUR on April 1, 2007 to 455 billion RUR on July 1, 2007. This information was published in compliance with the demand that an issuer or/and a joint stock investment fund must promptly reveal any essential information that could influence its stock price.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Uralprivatbank to natural persons despite overdraft account went down by 9% (from 81.498 million RUR to 73.793 million RUR) in January-April 2007.

'Ford Center, a motor show built for Autoland Holding, still hasn’t had the building commissioned yet and got no operating permits. The city council is currently trying to draw the monitoring agencies’ attention to the problem,’ the spokesperson for Yekaterinburg municipal council Konstantin Pudov said to a UrBC reporter. The center was opened on June 21, 2007 despite the fact that it had no permission to operate. The permission, in its turn, was missing because Archstroynadzor (the architectural and construction safety watchdog) refused to approve of the results of the construction.

The value of Bank URALSIB’s assets decreased by over 10% in April-June 2007, dropping from 565 billion RUR on April 1, 2007 to 455 billion RUR on July 1, 2007. This information was published in compliance with the demand that an issuer or/and a joint stock investment fund must promptly reveal any essential information that could influence its stock price.

The Bank of Russia reports people tend to be less interested in the operations on the foreign currency market in the second half of the year, whereas in February-May 2007, the supply of foreign currency exceeded the demand greatly, since individuals kept selling the U.S. dollars they had. Even now, people are still trying to gradually get rid of their foreign currency, selling more cash to the banks than buying it. According to the Bank of Russia’s statistical data, this ever-increasing supply of foreign currency in cash has nothing to do with the seasonal variations. SKB-Bank’s Deposits

Ural Customs Administration Customs Policies Committee met to discuss the ways the regional customs officers interact with people dealing in foreign economic activity in the course of customs check and clearance. The meeting was attended by Sergey Pasynkov, the head of Malachite (a special Yekaterinburg-based customs post). The need for a discussion came about due to the fact that the federal law 489 adopted on April 19, 2007 regarding the authority the customs officers have over handling precious stones and precious metals comes into effect on August 24, 2007. The law states that the powers