SCB, BII sign deal

SCB, BII sign deal

JAKARTA (JP): Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) customers are now
able to pay their credit card bills through Bank Internasional
Indonesia (BII) automatic teller machines (ATMs) under an
agreement signed here on Monday.

"About 600 BII ATMs are now available to pay Standard
Chartered credit card bills," SCB Indonesia head of consumer
banking Suvo Sarkar said following the signing of the agreement.

With this new deal, BII customers now have more options to pay
their credit card bills, he said. Previously, the bank's
customers could only pay their credit card bills through Bank
Central Asia's ATMs.

When a customer uses a BII ATM to pay their credit card bill,
they will incur a Rp 5,000 charge, Suvo said.

He said the number of SCB credit card holders in Indonesia,
which currently totals 110,000, was projected nearly to double
this year to about 200,000.

BII's managing director of commercial, consumer and e-banking,
Rudy N. Hamdani, said that through the agreement, BII hoped to
make Rp 50 million per month from the fee charged customers for
paying their credit card bills through the ATM. (03)

;AFP;
ANPAf..r..
Bizbrief-Britain-US
Mastercard, Europay to merge
JP/11/Colbox

Mastercard, Europay to merge

LONDON (AFP): Mastercard and Europay, the privately owned
credit and debit card networks, have agreed the outlines of a
merger designed to bolster Mastercard's position against arch-
rival Visa, the Financial Times reported Monday.

Under the all-share proposal, the European banks that control
Europay are expected to be offered new shares representing
between a quarter and a third of Mastercard, which will remain
based in Purchase, New York, the report said.

If the deal is approved by shareholders it will create the
world's largest debit card network and be second to Visa in
credit cards.

The two boards believe a merger would help cut costs and align
European and U.S. strategies, the Financial Times said, adding
that negotiations have been going on since early last year, when
Europay considered several possible deals to form a global group.

Mastercard and Europay provide the processing platforms for
card brands such as Mastercard, Maestro and Eurocheque, set the
rules under which banks may issue the cards and run expensive
marketing and advertising operations.

;AFP;
ANPAf..r..
Bizbrief-US-stocks-Nasdaq
Nasdaq tests decimal trading
JP/11/Colbox

Nasdaq tests decimal trading

NEW YORK (AFP): The Nasdaq stock market tests the waters for
trading in dollars and cents by switching 15 securities over to
the new decimal system on Monday, Nasdaq said in a statement.

On March 26, the 15 securities will be joined by those of 177
other companies -- including Amazon.com, Apple Computer and Sun
Microsystems.

Nasdaq's entire list of nearly 4,700 companies is set to begin
trading in decimals by April 9.

Until now, Nasdaq's shares have been traded in fractions --
listed, for example, at 5-1/4 instead of US$5.25.

Nasdaq's main rival, the New York Stock Exchange, moved to
full decimalization on January 29.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, which oversees the US
stock market, set the April 9 deadline for abolishing the
antiquated system.

Analysts say the shift from the unwieldy eighths and
sixteenths of a dollar to plain dollars and cents should
especially benefit private investors by making pricing easier and
cutting trading costs.

;AFP;
ANPAf..r..
Bizbrief-SKorea-auto
South Korea sees car surplus
JP/11/Colbox

South Korea sees car surplus

SEOUL (AFP): South Korea's car trade surplus reached a record
US$14.6 billion last year, according to industry figures released
Monday which cast a new spotlight on foreign suspicions of a
closed market.

The Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA) said
vehicle exports amounted to $16.9 billion while imports came to
just $2.3 billion.

The surplus was $12.1 billion in 1998 and $12.9 billion in
1999, according to the KAMA.

Passenger cars represented $11.7 billion, breaking the $10
billion mark for the first time. Earnings from cars rose from
$8.6 billion in 1998 and $9.9 billion in 1999.

Korean car exports to the United States were worth $5.9
billion while US auto imports amounted to just $350 million. But
the car trade with Japan posted a deficit of $630 million, said
the KAMA.

South Korea faces mounting pressure from European and U.S. car
makers to open up its market to imports.

ANPAf..r..
Bizbrief-Japan-IT-US
Sony, Toshiba, IBM tie up
JP/11/Colbox

Sony, Toshiba, IBM tie up

TOKYO (AFP): Sony and Toshiba Corp. of Japan said Monday they
were joining forces with U.S. giant IBM Corp. to develop a
"supercomputer on a chip" and create devices more powerful than
IBM's Deep Blue machine.

The three companies said they would invest US$400 million over
the next five years at an IBM facility in Austin, Texas, to
design the powerful new chip for the broadband communications
age.

PlayStation2 console maker Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
(SCEI) will license from IBM the latest technology to make 0.10
micron-sized chips -- 10,000 times thinner than a human hair.

The alliance will marry SCEI's leadership in the home console
market, IBM's computer and semiconductor track record and
Toshiba's expertise in system large-scale integration of chips, a
joint statement said.

"The result will be consumer devices that are more powerful
than IBM's Deep Blue supercomputer, operate at low power and
access the broadband Internet at ultra-high speeds."

Deep Blue defeated then world chess champion Garry Kasparov in
a high-profile battle pitting man against machine in 1997.

;AFP;
ANPAf..r..
Bizbrief-Summer-Harvard
Summers is Harvard president
JP/11/Colbox

Summers is Harvard president

WASHINGTON (AFP): Former U.S. treasury secretary Larry Summers
was Sunday named president of the prestigious Harvard University,
the university said in a statement.

Summers, 46, is to assume his new role at the beginning of
July, taking over from current president Neil Rudenstine, the
university said.

His appointment follows an "intensive and broad-ranging nine-
month search," it added.

"Larry Summers embodies a rare combination, as one of the most
respected scholars and one of the most influential public
servants of his generations," said Robert Stone, the senior
fellow who chaired the university's search committee.

The university newspaper Harvard Crimson reported that the
university's Board of Overseers, meeting at a New York restaurant
Sunday, decided in a unanimous vote to go with the search
committee's recommendation of Summers.

In 1983, at the age of 28, Summers became one of the youngest
tenured professor in Harvard history.

;DPA;
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Bizbrief-Singapore-Telecoms
SingTel plans data centers
JP/11/Colbox

SingTel plans data centers

SINGAPORE (DPA): Singapore Telecom (SingTel) plans to invest
more than S$200 million (US$116 million) this year to offer data
centre services in Thailand, Taiwan, China, India and South
Korea, a published report said on Monday.

Southeast Asia's biggest phone company already operates data
centers in Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong and Japan.

"These data centers are a major initiative that will boost
content hosting and distribution in Asia," Andrew Buay, SingTel
Multimedia Group's chief told The Business Times.

"Internet traffic that originates in Asia won't have to go
back to the U.S. if there is more content hosted here," he said.

SingTel has equity in India's Bharti Telecom; Taiwan's NCIC
and Infoserve Technology Corp; the Philippines' Globe Telecom;
and Thailand's Point Asia Dotcom.

;DJ;
ANPAf..r..
Bizbrief-WB-Thailand
WB to meet new Thai govt
JP/11/Colbox

WB to meet new Thai govt

BANGKOK (Dow Jones): World Bank Vice President for the East
Asia and Pacific Region Jemal-ud-din Kassum will make his first
official visit to Bangkok this week to meet with members of the
new Thai Government, the World Bank said in a statement Monday.

The visit will be the first by the World Bank at such a level
since the appointment of Thailand's new Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra. It comes soon after a visit by a senior delegation
from the International Monetary Fund last week.

During his trip, Kassum will visit social projects supported
by the World Bank and meet private sector representatives.

Following his visit to Bangkok, he will travel to Mongolia and
China.

Kassum will also chair a meeting of the World Bank's Anti-
Corruption Advisory Group for the East Asia and Pacific Region,
the statement said.

Kassum will hold a press conference early Friday on the
results of his visit.