The Central Bank of Russia made a list of the country’s largest credit bureaus and indicated the number of dossiers provided by the banks (the Central Catalogue now contains over 15 million credit record entries). Among the largest credit bureaus are: Global Payments Credit Services Ltd., National Banking History Bureau, InfoCredit, and Experian-Interfax. These companies store over 92% of all Russian natural persons and legal entities’ records. ‘UralFinPromBank has been cooperating with National Banking History Bureau. When choosing a business partner, we looked at the quantity and quality of

‘The regional banking services market developed more dynamically in 2006 than one year earlier,’ Andrei Yemelyanov, Strategic Development Director of Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development, said to UrBC. ‘This development can be traced in the financial indicators of the banks’ activity. The natural person deposits, for instance, grew by 67% against 64% in 2005, the loan portfolios increased by 75% against only 32% a year earlier. Legal entities started investing more as well; their share of deposits went up 84% against 75% in 2005. On average, the banks offered fewer loans to

Andrei Denisov, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, notified Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel that the ministry agreed to let the French Embassy in Russia set up their Consulate General in Yekaterinburg. The would-be consulate will cater for Sverdlovsk, Kurgan, Chelyabinsk, and Tyumen Regions, as well as for Khanty-Mansiyskiy and Yamalo-Nenetskiy Autonomous Regions. It is expected to start operating as soon as September 1, 2007 and will thus become France’s second Consulate General in Russia (the first consulate has been operating in Saint

Rusipoteka.ru, an online service devoted to mortgage lending and securitization, has recently published a rating based on the volume of mortgage loans issued by Russia’s leading banks. SKB-Bank of Yekaterinburg, with its 15th position in the rating, joined the group of banks with the record numbers of mortgage loans provided to clients. As regards the Urals-based banks, SKB-Bank is the obvious leader in terms of both number and volume of mortgage loans. It offered its borrowers 1,667 mortgage loans worth more than 1.7 billion RUR in 2006 alone, which exceeds the total number and volume of

‘One could expect the real estate prices to go up 20% to 30% in 2007,’ President of Ural Chamber of Real Estate Pavel Kuznetsov announced at today’s press conference. ‘The average existing home prices in Yekaterinburg doubled last year; as for the downtown area, the prices grew by 127%. The price growth rate has slowed down recently: apartments only got 3% more expensive in January. At the moment, the figures come to 60,000 to 70,000 RUR per square meter of a dwelling located outside the city center and to 70,000 - 75,000 RUR in the downtown area,’ Mr Kuznetsov said.

The inspection conducted by the State Environmental Surveillance Department revealed that a number of regional enterprises had been operating without any atmospheric emission permits. Among the offenders are SPK Ltd., SK-Plast Ltd., Crystal Trading Firm Ltd., Regional Secondary Raw Material Company Ltd., and SE-SU-Impax, reports the spokesperson for the Ural division of Rostechnadzor (the state environmental watchdog).

Governor Eduard Rossel met local architects and builders on February 7 to discuss the prospective construction of dwellings in the south-east of Yekaterinburg. The land is currently owned by Istok and leased by GlavSredUralStroy Management Company Ltd. According to CEO Alexander Lukach, the allotment would fit approximately 6 million square meters of two-to-five storey buildings. The Governor emphasized the fact that only the most up-to-date technologies and building materials should be used in the construction process, reports the Governor’s press officer.

Moody's Investors Service, the international rating agency, classed Russian and foreign currency deposits of Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development as having a long-term B3 rating, a short-term Not-Prime (NP) rating, and gave the bank the E+ rating in terms of financial stability. In the meantime, Moody's Interfax Rating Agency granted the company a long-term Baa2.ru rating on the national scale. The agency says the bank’s leadership in Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk Regions has supported its financial stability rating. Given the region’s rapid development and the company’s ties

Ural Airlines is already selling the tickets for the company’s summer flights, as such was the wish of its clients. One can now get a discount on a ticket to Sochi, Krasnodar, Anapa, Mineralniye Vody, or Simferopol (all of these are situated at the Black Sea) scheduled for the months of June, July, and August; the offer is valid from February 1 to March 31, 2007. The price of the single ticket has been deliberately made comparable to that of a train transfer and amounts to 3,999 RUR (including the fuel fee). ‘As recently as just a few years ago, sales used to be seen by Russian people as a

A container terminal belonging to Territorial Company has been operating on the premises of Uralmashzavod (part of United Machine Building Works (aka OMZ (Obedinennye Mashinostroitelnye Zavody, formerly United Heavy Machinery)) since May 2005. Its turnover revenues barely covered all the expenses as recently as July 2006, yet this turnover had already tripled by January 2007. Last summer, the terminal only stocked 100 containers, but the number rose to over 550 in January 2007. Over 85% of the total area are being used now, reports the spokesperson for Uralmashzavod. This area comes to 18,000

Banks have lost in the consumer loan transparency fight: Home Credit and Finance Bank Ltd. in Yekaterinburg admitted being defeated by Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) and came up with a new agreement form; this time, it is commission-free. In the meantime, Rospotrebnadzor has been looking into the affairs of the consumer loan leader – Russian Standard Bank after a claim was laid against the company and RosBank by their Moscow-based borrowers. Commissions charged for opening and servicing an account and other payments raise the actual interest rate on a consumer loan from

The report on the state of the environment and the way environmental factors affect the health of Sverdlovsk Region population indicates that SukholozhskCement, Nevyanskiy Cement-Maker, and SZMF, a plant based in the town of Sukhoi Log, are Sverdlovsk Region’s major air polluters among building companies. Their shares in the total amount of atmospheric emissions come to 17.1% (8,290 tons), 13.8% (7,188 tons), and 7.3% (3,804 tons), respectively. 185 building companies, or 61.3% of the total number, have been dumping pollutants without recycling them first.

The banking community of Kazakhstan is in the middle of a crisis. The editor of Svoboda Slova received the original letter written by Armangul Kapasheva, wife of missing chairman of NurBank Zholdas Timraliev, to President Nazarbaev. In it, Ms Kapasheva reports that Mr Timraliev has been missing since his meeting with the one of the bank’s executives (Ms G. Jumadillaeva) and Rakhat Aliev, the bank’s shareholder. Ms Kapasheva held an emergency press briefing and sent a letter to the President, since she was worried about her husband’s well-being and life. The Nazarbaev Administration has not

‘Yesterday, the court of arbitration decided that apartments located at 72 Khokhryakova St. should be arrested,’ Elena Ivanova, the Chief Accountant of Ural State Economic University, said to UrBC. ‘These apartments have already been decorated and furbished the sale ads have already been placed online, so HydroSpetsStroy Ltd. (the general contractor of Noviy Grad, the builder) might have sold some of them. We intend to fight this company’s illegal policies and protect the public property,’ Ms Ivanova said. Ural State Economic University was given a land allotment by the mayor as early as

Metalline Ltd. pulled down the so called E. I. Schevkunova house located at 51 Rosa Luxemburg St. This was a historic building dating back to the first half of the nineteenth century. The house was originally rented by Metalline Ltd., but it had already been completely demolished by January 13, 2004, reports Sverdlovsk Region Cultural Heritage Protection Center.

‘The subscribers of MegaFon Ural, the mobile operator, appear to be ever-interested in our EDGE/GPRS services; our Internet traffic consumption, for instance, went up 2.5 times last year,’ PR Director of MegaFon Ural Lyudmila Protasova said to UrBC. ‘MegaFon Ural has been investing heavily in the development of additional services as well as making them conveniently accessible. Our EDGE/GPRS services are included in the basic service package and are thus available as soon as one gets connected to MegaFon; there is also an automatic settings system that can be obtained through the phone SIM

An additional 26-hectare land patch was allotted in Yekaterinburg for the construction of roads providing links to and from the would-be Academic district, reports Sverdlovsk Region Ministry of Natural Resources. The patch has been taken from Uktus forestry and is meant for roads necessary to the city-dwellers from the would-be district and from the south-west of the city. The Federal Environmental Management Surveillance Agency approved of the decision.

According to Sverdlovsk Region Cultural Heritage Protection Center, eight historic buildings were pulled down in Yekaterinburg in 2004-2006; two of them were based in Verkh-Isetskiy district, one in Kirovskiy district, two in Leninskiy district, and three in Oktyabrskiy district.

‘Following the arrival of the federal and multinational players on Yekaterinburg retail food market, it had to undergo redistribution, yet it’s early times yet to say if the changes happened to be substantial,’ says Alexei Podolyako, CEO of Alliance Non-Commercial Partnership. ‘The changes appear to be most keenly felt in the areas adjacent to the new supermarkets’ premises. Grossmart is the one who managed to achieve the most by taking over 8% to 10% of Pionerskiy-district grocery market. Auchan and Metro are based on the outskirts of the city, so it would be an exaggeration to say they have

According to the Central Bank of Russia, the volume of investments placed by nongovernmental financial bodies with UralTransBank for a term of 91 to 180 days went down 33.3% (from 3 million RUR to 2 million) in January-November 2006.