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World Business Quick Take

■ Banking
Kiwi ATMs scammed
New Zealand banks were checking the country's 2,300 hole-in-the-wall cash machines yesterday after discovering the first case of a scam in which a skimming device was used to obtain PIN numbers and steal money from customers' accounts. The Bank of New Zealand suspended 1,300 customer cash cards used at a machine in suburban Auckland this month and said more than NZ$20,000 (US$12,000) had been stolen. Three other banks whose customers used the machine also lost money. Chris Budge, a forensic computer expert with PriceWaterhouseCoopers, told Radio New Zealand it was the first known case of such fraud in New Zealand and the device would have been brought into the country from overseas where the scam was more common.

■ Banking
Citibank goes online
On Wednesday Citibank launched a new online, high-yield savings account to compete with similar offerings from other successful Internet banks. Called Citibank Direct, the new account will carry an introductory rate of 4.5 percent. The accounts will be available to consumers in the US and will require no minimum balance and carry no fees. But customers who sign up for the high-rate savings accounts will be required to open a linked checking account. The new account faces some tough competition. HSBC Bank USA, a division of London-based HSBC Holdings PLC, has been offering a high-rate account online since late last year. It is currently offering 4.8 percent on its no-fee, no-minimum online accounts. Netherlands-based ING Groep NV's ING Direct, which has operated online accounts since September 2000, offers 3.8 percent.

■ Pharmaceuticals
Ranbaxy buys Terapia
India's top pharmaceutical firm Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd said on Wednesday it was buying Romania's leading generic drug producer Terapia for US$324 million as part of plans to expand its European market presence. The announcement came two days after Ranbaxy -- headquartered in Gurgaon, India -- said it was acquiring GlaxoSmithKline Plc's generic business in Italy. Ranbaxy, which is among the world's top 10 generic drug makers, has mostly relied on the US market for its global sales, but the company is now increasingly looking to Europe. Last month, it lost to rival Dr Reddy's Laboratories in a bid for German drug maker Betapharm. The Terapia buy will provide the company with "proximity and access to high growth markets," Ranbaxy Chief Executive Malvinder Singh said in a statement. The company will fund the acquisition with the money it raised -- about US$400 million -- from an overseas bond issue earlier this year.

■ Home appliances
Maytag purchase approved
The Justice Department's antitrust division announced on Wednesday that it had approved Whirlpool's purchase of its smaller rival Maytag, a US$1.7 billion deal that will create one of the largest home appliance companies in the world. Despite the dominant market share the merged companies would have, government lawyers concluded that the deal was not likely to substantially reduce competition among home appliance manufacturers, in part because of strong domestic rivals like General Electric and Frigidaire as well as rivals from abroad including LG, Samsung and Bosch.

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