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World Business Quick Take

■ BANKING
Virgin eyes Northern Rock
Britain's Virgin Group, controlled by entrepreneur Richard Branson, is in talks to take over troubled bank Northern Rock, a person familiar with the matter said yesterday. The mobile phones-to-flights group could lead a consortium including Middle East and US investors that would inject cash in exchange for a controlling stake and stabilize funding at the troubled bank, the source said. The group could make a proposal as early as today, but the timing was uncertain, he said. Northern Rock shares jumped as much as 6 percent on the report.

■ AUTOMOBILES
Toyota loses Lexus chief
Toyota Motor Corp has suffered its second high-profile defection in little more than a month after Ford Motor Co poached a senior executive from the Japanese automaker's luxury Lexus division. The No. 2 US automaker announced late on Thursday that it had hired Lexus group vice president Jim Farley, who has spent nearly two decades at Toyota. Farley, 45, will become head of marketing and communications at Ford. The announcement comes about a month after Chrysler announced that it had poached Toyota veteran Jim Press just months after he was made Toyota's first foreign director.

■ FOREX
FATF criticizes Iran's laws
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international anti-money laundering watchdog, yesterday highlighted lax Iranian regulation against money laundering and financing terrorism. FATF, which groups 34 countries, issued a statement calling on Tehran to take action. "The Financial Action Task Force is concerned that the Islamic Republic of Iran's lack of a comprehensive anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism [AML/CFT] regime represents a significant vulnerability within the international financial system," it said. "FATF calls upon Iran to address on an urgent basis its deficiencies." The statement went on to say: "FATF members are advising their financial institutions to take the risk arising from the deficiencies in Iran's AML/CFT regime into account for enhanced due diligence ... FATF looks forward to engaging with Iran to address these deficiencies."

■ ENERGY
EDF mulls Inter RAO stake
French electricity utility EDF is in talks to acquire a minority stake in Russia's Inter RAO electricity exporter, the Kommersant reported yesterday, citing people familiar with the situation. The sources did not know the exact size of the stake which EDF could acquire, though one of them told the daily that EDF would not take less than 25 percent in the company. The paper said talks were still at an early stage. Analysts estimate that Inter RAO was worth between US$2 billion and US$3.5 billion indicating that EDF would have to pay US$500 million to US$875 million for 25 percent of the utility.

■ RETAIL
Wal-Mart keen on Malaysia
US retail giant Wal-Mart is keen to open stores in Malaysia, Deputy Trade Minister S. Veerasingam said yesterday, amid a drive to lure investment and boost economic growth. He declined to elaborate further amid reports the company had formally applied to enter the Malaysian market. He said German company Metro, one of Europe's largest retailers, had applied for permission to set up operations.


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