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; ANPAf..r.. 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.