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World Business Quick Take

■ Banking
Australian bank fires staff
Australia's biggest bank said it fired four senior officials and promised sweeping changes, after an independent report yesterday revealed systemic problems that led to the bank's multimillion-dollar currency trading scandal. National Australia Bank, in bid to restore public trust, also said that it sacked the four foreign exchange traders involved in the scandal, which culminated in the loss of A$360 million (US$265 million). Accounting firm Pricewater-houseCoopers wrote in the independent report that the bank's markets division, where the traders worked, lacked managerial supervision and appropriate financial controls.

■ China
HP, Microsoft to set up labs
Microsoft Corp and Hewlett-Packard Co agreed to set up laboratories in China to enable testing and development of applications for the competing Windows and Linux software systems, the China Daily reported, citing the companies and government officials. Microsoft will invest 80 million yuan (US$9.6 million) to open two centers that will let domestic companies develop products for its Windows and .Net technologies, the report said. Hewlett-Packard will provide 200 million yuan of software, hardware, training and technical support over three years for the Linux laboratory, the newspaper said. The two deals are a sign that the Chinese government is trying to adopt a balanced approach toward the two operating systems, Gou Zhongwen, deputy chief of the Ministry of Information Industry, was quoted as saying in the report.

■ Environment
Hybrid Camry coming to US
Japan's top carmaker Toyota plans to sell Camry passenger cars with hybrid engines in the US as early as 2006 in a bid to spur competition over low-emissions vehicles there, a daily said yesterday. Toyota Motor Corp aims to sell more than 100,000 of the vehicles a year, mainly in the North American market, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. Toyota has sold about 200,000 hybrid cars since the 1997 debut of its Prius, the world's first mass-produced vehicle driven by both a gasoline engine and an electric motor. The Camry was the best-selling car in the US in 2002 and last year, selling more than 400,000 models each year. Toyota is likely to produce the Camry's hybrid versions at its plant in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, central Japan.

■ Technology
US to spend 10% more
US spending on information technology and processing software is set to rise 10 percent for a second consecutive year helped by a recovering US economy, said Bhavin Shah, managing director of global technology research at JP Morgan Securities Asia Pacific. Spending will rise to US$510.5 billion this year from US$463.8 billion last year, which was also a 10 percent rise from the previous year, said Shah, who has been rated the top technology analyst by Institutional Investor since 1999. "It's hard to be negative about IT spending," Shah told investors at a meeting in Tokyo on Thursday. Chipmakers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the world's largest supplier of made-to-order semiconductors, may be among the companies to win orders from information technology spending and demand for new devices.

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