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World Business Quick Take

■ Japan
Top broker to enter banking
Japan's top broker Nomura Securities plans to enter the banking business as early as next year by starting an Internet service for retail depositors, a newspaper said yesterday. Nomura will accept the opening of business accounts through its 130 branches across Japan, the Asahi Shimbun said without citing sources. Brokerages are currently prohibited by law from running banking businesses directly. However, the Financial Services Agency, the banking regulator, is set to submit a bill to parliament early next year which would allow brokers to offer such businesses for retailers by acting as an "agent" of banks, the daily said. Nomura Securities plans to become such an agent of Nomura Trust and Banking, which is part of the Nomura group, the Asahi said.

■ China
Underground bank busted
Authorities in China's financial hub Shanghai have busted an underground bank that was conducting millions of US dollars worth of foreign-currency transactions, state press reported yesterday. Investigators hauled in 15 suspects after a sting operation involving 100 police that lasted two months, the official Xinhua news agency said. One man, Zou Xudong, was fingered as the alleged ring leader of the black-market operation that extended to seven provinces and involved 90 domestic and foreign companies, it said. A recent government study found that underground lending totalled 750 billion yuan (US$92 billion) or 30 percent of legitimate lending from state banks.

■ Japan
Joint-venture plans scrapped
Japanese electronics company Hitachi Ltd and machinery maker Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd said yesterday they were scrapping plans to create a joint venture to combine their air-conditioning and refrigeration operations. The companies had said in June last year that the integration would be completed by April 1 this year. Under the deal, Hitachi Air Conditioning Systems, Hitachi's wholly owned unit, and Mitsubishi Heavy's air-conditioning and refrigeration systems division were to merge. A new agreement was reached to form ties in specific areas of the air-conditioning business, such as development, procurement and service operations, rather than seeking a full-scale integration, both sides said in a statement.

■ Auto industry
Suppliers to be rewarded
DaimlerChrysler AG said on Wednesday it will reward its highest-performing suppliers with longer-term contracts and other perks under a new system designed to cut costs and improve design. DaimlerChrysler said Johnson Controls Inc and Magna International Inc are among the first companies that will get contracts under the new system. Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls and Aurora, Ohio-based Magna are designing the interior of a 2008 Chrysler Group crossover, Chrysler Group vice president Peter Rosenfeld said at an annual automotive conference in Traverse City. DaimlerChrysler awarded contracts for the project 12 to 15 months earlier than usual because the companies met DaimlerChrysler's performance targets, Rosenfeld said. DaimlerChrysler looks at suppliers' costs and financial health, among other factors, and then invites them to work on projects.

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