In Brief (four items)

Japan to Sell Bank It Seized to U.S. Group

NEW YORK - The Japanese government completed an agreement Wednesday to sell nationalized Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, or LTCB, to a consortium led by the U.S. investment group Ripplewood Holdings LLC.New York-based Ripplewood and the other companies, collectively called New LTCB Partners, will invest $1.1 billion in the newly created LTCB and apply for $220 million of public funds from the Japanese government. This will be on top of the $1.9 billion yen of taxpayer money that was pumped into the bank in 1998 when it was nationalized.

Other members of the partnership include GE Capital, a unit of General Electric Co., Travelers Insurance, which is part of Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, Bank of Nova Scotia, and ABN Amro Holding NV. LTCB, once one of Japan's biggest banks, was taken over in 1998 after regulators determined that it would never recover from a mountain of bad loans. It was the first time the Japanese government had taken over a bank since World War II.

-Dow Jones


FBI Official to Be Administrator at MBNA

WILMINGTON, Del. - MBNA Corp. has hired Lewis D. Schiliro, head of the FBI's New York office, to be a senior executive vice president in its administration department.Mr. Schiliro, 50, is to join MBNA next month, after retiring from a 25-year career with the FBI.

During his FBI tenure Mr. Schiliro oversaw a multitude of investigations, most recently focusing on the growing threat of terrorism in the United States and against U.S. targets abroad.

At MBNA he will be involved with facilities, transportation, and security, according to David Spartin, vice chairman at MBNA.

Mr. Schiliro is one of many FBI employees hired by MBNA. Jim Kallstrom, the former FBI investigator who headed the investigation of the crash of a TWA jet in 1996, joined MBNA about two years ago. He is now a senior executive in sales working to sign on new affinity groups.

- Miriam Kreinin Souccar


Diebold to Buy European ATM Business

PARIS - Diebold Inc. said Wednesday that it will buy the automated teller machine manufacturing venture run by Amsterdam-based Getronics NV and Groupe Bull, which is headquartered near Paris.The Canton, Ohio-based ATM supplier would pay $160 million in cash. The acquired business - with annual revenue of about $250 million - includes ATMs, cash dispensers, self-service terminals, and related services. Diebold said the deal would make it the second-largest provider of financial self-service solutions in Europe. In 1998 it was ranked fourth.

Bull and Getronics terminals are made in a factory in Cassis, France. Bull makes Bull-branded machines, and Getronics makes Olivetti-branded ATMs, which were previously marketed and serviced by Wang Global.

The acquisition includes Cable Print, a specialized self-service terminal maker based in Brussels, the Cassis facility, and roughly 1,300 employees in more than 20 countries.

- Helen Stock


OTC Derivatives to Be Topic of Hearing

WASHINGTON - Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers and Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan are expected to reiterate their opposition to federal regulation of swaps and other over-the-counter derivatives in testimony today before the Senate Agriculture Committee.Other regulators and industry witnesses are expected to ask Congress to exempt these derivatives from regulation to keep from driving the business overseas.

Separately, Rep. Bill McCollum, chairman of House Judiciary's crime subcommittee, is to examine the Clinton administration's proposed legislation to crack down on money launderers. Scheduled witnesses include Assistant Attorney General James K. Robinson and American Bankers Association senior counsel John J. Byrne.

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