CARRYING ON: Reports that the mortgage lender is under FBI investigation for possible securities fraud have not deterred the bank from its US$4 billion takeover
Bank of America Corp, the largest US bank by market value, plans to press ahead with its US$4 billion takeover of Countrywide Financial Corp, the mortgage lender under investigation by the FBI for possible securities fraud.

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For foreign companies in New York, it's a huge cost of doing business: Employees move to the city or come here on assignment and the company has to put them up in temporary corporate housing that routinely exceeds US$4,000 a month.

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UNTENABLE: By building cars in the US, BMW can save on labor, shipping and the weaker dollar. The German plant will cut 5,600 jobs by year end
BMW says it will cut 7.5 percent of its work force in Germany over two years while increasing production in the US by more than 50 percent by 2012.

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Asset manager Ameriprise Financial Services Inc is pairing up with MasterCard Inc to become a credit card lender for the first time, the two companies planned to announce yesterday.

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Bank of Communications Ltd said its partner HSBC Holdings Plc applied to the Chinese regulator to raise its stake in the nation's fourth-largest bank by market value to 40 percent.

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Tata Chemicals Ltd, part of India's second-largest business group, hired seven banks to arrange US$850 million in loans to fund the purchase of US-based General Chemical Industrial Products Inc, three people with direct knowledge of the deal said.

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