Bank information and reference bulletin published a report on the activity of Sverdlovsk Region banks in the first half of 2006. According to this report, the dynamics of the banks’ own and debt capital have led to a decrease in self-financing (from 44.1% at the beginning of this year to 40.8% by the end of June 2006). The banks experienced no equity shortage in terms of fixed assets in the six months of 2006; on average, their own capital exceeded the fixed assets figures by 17% on June 30, 2006 (compared with 8% at the beginning of the year).

‘Our company has been using MegaFon Ural, the mobile phone operator, for four years,’ says Tatiana Moiseeva, the representative of Global System Mobile Club. ‘We like this company’s far-sighted policy; it is quite obvious that MegaFon Ural manages to keep up with the most recent trends in its field. The schemes it offers to businesses allow us to reduce our cell phone communication expenses by a few times, especially in terms of roaming and GPRS services,’ Ms Moiseeva said.

Existing home sales got past the psychological point of the average of 70,997 RUR per square meter in the center of Yekaterinburg (i.e. in Moskovskaya St., Chelyuskintsy St., Vostochnaya St., Dekabristy St., Belinskiy St., and Bolshakov St.) on November 28, 2006, reports the Analytical Department of the Ural Chamber of Real Estate. The figure comes to 64,575 RUR in Yekaterinburg’s most expensive residential area (Avtovokzal, Yugo-Zapadniy, Parkoviy, Botanicheskiy, Vtuzgorodok, Shartashskiy, ZhBI – downtown and the south-west and the south-east of the city), to 57,233 RUR in the city’s second

According to the Central Bank of Russia, the volume of loans given by UralTransBank to nongovernmental commercial organizations for a term of 91 to 180 days went down by 55.5% (from 278.905m RUR to 124.032m RUR) in January-November 2006.

VympelCom (Beeline), the mobile phone operator, has made some personnel shifts in its Ural branch. Former Commercial Director of VympelCom in the Ural Region Andrei Pyatakhin was appointed Corporate Sales Director in the company’s Moscow branch. He was succeeded by the former Commercial Director of VympelCom Yekaterinburg Evgeniya Grishina, who is now acting Commercial Director of VympelCom in the Ural Region.

The dispute between two administrative bodies, namely, ROSNO, the insurance company, and UralTransBank, keeps unwinding. The bank accused the insurer of failing to meet its liabilities in terms of compensation payments related to credit insurance. The bank also claimed that ROSNO never provided any well-grounded explanations as to why they kept refusing to pay the bank. ROSNO, on its part, accuses UralTransBank of failing to produce the papers needed to get the compensation despite the existing agreements. Moreover, the insurer says that the bank was trying to receive several payments for one

‘I normally deal with five to six cases involving claims against insurance companies connected with obligatory car insurance annually,’ Galina Nizen of Offer Law Firm said to UrBC representative. ‘Right after this type of insurance was introduced, I handled two cases involving Rosgosstrakh where the company had reduced the compensation payment figure at its own will. The car owner got an independent commission of experts to examine the case and produced the report that stated the sum of money needed to repair the car. Yet Rosgosstrakh lowered the figure by 70%. Later on, our firm dealt with

The Association of Regional Russian Banks tried to draw the attention of the Federal Insurance Surveillance Agency to the issue of consumer loan-related financial risk insurance for the banks. Their letter to the Agency said that since April 2006, ROSNO, an insurance company, had not been meeting its liabilities concerning the general agreement signed by its Ural branch and UralTransBank: the bank received neither compensation nor any well-grounded justification of refusal in any of the events insured against. The appeal of UralTransBank claims that ROSNO is letting down not only its clients

SKB-Bank has recently introduced a new subsidiary in the town of Verkhnyaya Salda, Sverdlovsk Region. The office is located right in the center of the city (73 Engels St.). Verkhnesaldinskiy office, as it is called, offers the whole range of banking services for both businesses and individuals. The natural persons are welcomed from 9 AM to 7 PM on weekdays and from 9 AM to 4 PM on weekends, the working hours for businesses and sole traders are from 9 AM to 4 PM on weekdays (there is no lunch break). Verkhnyaya Salda is the 21st regional town to get an SKB-Bank office. The bank owns 51

According to the Central Bank of Russia, the volume of loans given by UralTransBank to nongovernmental commercial organizations for a term of 31 to 90 days went down by 46.8% (from 259,966,000 RUR to 138,045,000 RUR) in January-November 2006.

The number of the so-called ‘dacha amnesty’ applications went up in November 2006, says the executive of Federal Registration Service Administration in Sverdlovsk Region Marina Cherkasova. According to Ms Cherkasova, they got relatively few dacha registration applications in September or October. ‘We expect these figures to soar in December, as the registration fee dropped from 500 RUR to 100 RUR on the first of the month,’ she said.

Starting December 4, 2006, the Affordable loan scheme became available to more people in Sverdlovsk Region, namely, to the residents of Mozhga (in the subsidiary of Uralvneshtorgbank at 86 Nagovitsin St.), Solikamsk (in the subsidiary at 34 Uritskiy St.), Tchaikovsky (the bank’s Loan Office at 36 Lenin St.), and to people living in the villages of Foki, Markovskiy, and Prikamskiy (Loan Office in Tchaikovsky). The residents of Lysva, Chusovoi, Lipovaya, Zaimka, Bolshaya Lysva, Obmanka 1 and Obmanka 2, Dubrovo, and Sokol can receive this loan at the bank’s Lysvenskiy subsidiary located at 33

‘In the very near future, the building market is going to experience a problem of insuring the buildings under construction,’ says the General Director of the Union of Sverdlovsk Region Builders Vitaliy Padchin. ‘The WTO requirements state that every used construction site must be insured, yet our insurers are not prepared to work on such terms. Even though they declare that they have this possibility, the insurance fee of 1% off the total sum of the building and assembly jobs is too large a sum. It absolutely must be reduced, given especially that after the cancellation of the licensing

‘Most likely, the disappearance of Hortiza and Myagkov from the market won’t influence the alcohol sales volume,’ the Advertising and PR Director of Kupets Trade Center Ltd. Nadezhda Buriko said to UrBC representative when asked to comment on the statement made by the head or Rospotrebnadzor (the federal consumer rights organization) Gennadiy Onischenko about the possible bans on importing Ukrainian alcohol. ‘We’ll start looking for other options, since no one has banned the foreign and Russian producers so far,’ Ms Buriko explained. ‘This ban on Ukrainian alcohol certainly means lobbying the

‘The process of Russia joining the World Trade Organization requires some protectionist policy for the machine building enterprises on the part of the government,’ First Deputy GD of Ust Katav Wagon Works Viktor Krasavin said to UrBC representative. ‘Some 50% to 60% of the equipment, buildings, and machining facilities of the companies operating in this field are quite worn-out, so our enterprises will have a very hard time competing with their Western counterparts; in fact, this might be virtually impossible,’ Mr Krasavin claims. ‘Some large enterprises are more protected as they receive the

‘The introduction of the new bills that make it easier for the foreign investors to get involved in the Russian banks’ capital must be accompanied by two things simultaneously: firstly, this country’s banking system needs to become more liberalized, as the Central Bank keeps receiving a lot of unfavorable critique in terms of lacking any positive shifts in that respect, which actually means lacking capitalization opportunities. At the moment, we neither deal with the capitalization ourselves nor allow any foreign parties to do it. Secondly, Russia is about to enter the WTO, so the bills of

‘The damage done by the fire at the Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Magnitogorsk might exceed $100m, with $90m needed for the shop restoration,’ the analyst of FINAM Investment Company Denis Gorin said to UrBC representative. ‘Besides, in order to meet its business liabilities, the complex will most likely have to buy some cold-rolled sheets from the other producers, which requires up to $10m monthly (and it will take about one and a half months to restore the sheet-rolling shop). ‘This week, the company’s shares have dropped in price by 1.79% at Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange; yet

Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant is going to supply 2,400 tons of zinc-aluminum alloy to ThyssenKrupp of Germany, the world’s leading high-quality metal goods producer, in February-July 2007. The alloy will be supplied with the help of Euromin, the Swiss trader, says the press officer for the plant. Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant got on the German concern’s supplier list after it had successfully undergone some testing through trial purchases of the alloy. Since 2003, the plant has been producing zinc-based alloys only (the parent metal content coming to 99.995%) known as CZP SHG (CHELYABINSK ZINC PLANT

‘Introducing the Unified State Information System (aka EGAIS) on tobacco market is not good, as the system has not been properly tested in terms of even alcohol market yet,’ said Monetka Trade Center manager Elena Mursina. ‘The Unified State Information System will probably be less painful for the tobacco market compared with the alcohol one, but I don’t believe this will do the market any good,’ she observed. ‘I hope that this will not lead to soaring prices, since this is supposed to be the producer who will cover the equipment and system installation expenses, and not the consumer,’ Ms

According to the Central Bank of Russia, the volume of loans given by UralTransBank to nongovernmental commercial organizations for up to 30 days went down by 35.7% (from 47.197m RUR to 30.325m RUR) in January-October 2006.