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CHINA  SELLING EURO-DENOMINATED BONDS

BEIJING, China - China's government plans to start marketing about $1.7 billion of bonds next week, including its biggest sale of debt denominated in euros.
 
Government officials are reportedly in meetings with investors in Europe and Asia with plans to sell $1.2 billion and $500 million of bonds.
 
The euro part of the sale is the biggest and longest maturity of such bonds sold by an Asian government and will act as a point of reference for Chinese companies seeking to raise funds in the currency.
 
The euro bonds may be popular among those seeking to diversify their holdings, said one investor.

"A significant tapping of the Euro-denominated bond markets would provide the vehicle for expanding the country's base of investors," said Mohammed El-Erian, who manages $14 billion of emerging-market debt funds for Newport Beach-based Pacific Investment Management Co.
 
BNP Paribas SA, Deutsche Bank AG and UBS AG are arranging the euro offering. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Merrill Lynch & Co. and Morgan Stanley are underwriting the dollar sale.

The government isn't planning to pitch the debt to US investors to save time and because officials believe there is ready demand in Asia, bankers involved in the sale said.

Asian banks have typically been "big buyers" of Chinese government bonds, the bankers said.

B of A OFFERING FREE INSTANT TRANSFERS

RALEIGH, North Carolina - Bank of America Corp. is introducing free instant money transfers between its customers - and even to other banks - as part of its online banking service.

The new service allows consumers to move money from their personal checking, savings, line of credit or credit card accounts to personal accounts of other Bank of America customers.
 
The bank, the nation's third-largest by assets and largest by deposits and branches, has 33 million customers and about 5,800 branches in 29 states and the District of Columbia.
 
The bank is reportedly one of the first to offer the service, which is already available to its customers in the Southeast, Southwest and Midwest.
 
It will be rolled out in California by the end of this month, but won't be available in Western New York and other parts of the former Fleet Bank network in the Northeast until next year when Fleet accounts are converted to the Bank of America computer system.
 
The bank also plans to start allowing transfers to customers of other banks later this month.

Several banks, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo & Co., and Citigroup, have set up international wire-transfer services with subsidiaries or partners in Mexico to compete with Western Union.

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