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World Business Quick Take

■ Banking
Pre-paid credit card planned
If you've ever been nervous about using your credit card to order the latest bestseller online or buy roses for a loved one over the phone, an Irish bank thinks it has solved the problem. Permanent tsb said on Tuesday it will launch the world's first pre-paid, disposable credit voucher, opening up Internet and telephone shopping to those previously put off by the security implications of handing over their credit card details. In the same way that owners of pre-paid mobile phones top up their credit at shops, registered users of the new service will be able to buy vouchers for between 20 and 350 euros (US$25-US$431) at retail outlets. Each voucher will carry its own unique number which can be used to shop online, by phone or by mail with any retailer who accepts cards issued by Visa.

■ Electronics
Creative may sue over iPod
Creative Technology Ltd, maker of the Zen digital music player, said Apple Computer Inc's iPod and other players use its recently patented technology and the company may seek licensing fees or sue competitors. The patent covers the interface that lets users scroll through songs and choose tracks, Craig McHugh, president of Creative Labs, the US division of Singapore-based Creative, told reporters yesterday. This may mark Apple's second iPod patent setback. An Apple patent application was rejected last month because Microsoft Corp beat the company to filing documents on a similar interface idea.

■ Airlines
China Southern to buy 787s
China Southern Airlines Co said yesterday it has agreed to buy 10 Boeing 787 aircraft. The list price of each aircraft is between US$125 million and US$135 million, said the airline, which is based in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. Earlier this month, Boeing said it had reached a final agreement with Air China Ltd, China Eastern Airlines Corp, Shanghai Airlines Co, and Xiamen Airline Co for the sale of 42 of its new fuel-efficient 787 Dreamliners.

■ Banking
Foreign firms buy into ICBC
An investment group comprised of Goldman Sachs, Allianz and American Express will buy a 10-percent stake in Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC, 中國工商銀行) for US$3 billion, according to media reports yesterday. The South China Morning Post said a memorandum of understanding was signed in Beijing on Tuesday, but Beijing-based ICBC declined to comment. Under the non-binding document Goldman would put in between US$1.7 billion and US$1.8 billion, Allianz will pay about US$1 billion, and American Express is considering US$200 million to US$300 million worth of shares. The agreement puts the value of ICBC at a lower-than-expected US$30 billion.

■ Privatization
Australia prepares new law
Legislation clearing the way for the Australian government to sell its majority stake in communications company Telstra Corp will probably be introduced in Parliament next week, Communications Minister Helen Coonan told the National Press Club yesterday. The government has a 51.8 percent stake in the former state-run telecommunications monopoly and has said it wants to sell the shares late next year in what would be the country's biggest ever privatization, valued at around A$30 billion (US$22.4 billion).

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