Auditors named

THE New York State Banking Department has chosen Arthur Andersen & Co to audit the books of Daiwa Bank's New York branch, which last month disclosed a US$1.1 billion loss on trades of US Treasury securities.

Arthur Andersen, the world's largest accounting firm, will review the transactions that led to the loss and analyse the accuracy of the New York branch's records, the banking department said.

Daiwa Bank says it lost $1.1 billion because of trader Toshihide Iguchi's attempts to hide losses over 11 years. Iguchi, 44, was arrested and charged with falsifying Daiwa's records.