David Barboza and Keith Bradsher report for the New York Times on discussions between Goldman Sachs and Allianz to acquire a $1 billion stake in China's Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).

Hiawatha Bray writes for the Boston Globe on concerns of private investigators about legislation that may limit the sale of Social Security Numbers in the wake of data security and information access breaches.

'We're under a lot of pressure to minimize the availability of Social Security numbers," said LexisNexis spokeswoman Mary Dale Walters.

Marco Piovesan, vice president of business services at ChoicePoint, said that his company has discussed the issue with private investigators, but has decided not to sell them Social Security numbers. ''We restrict that information to a large number of business types, including the PI group," Piovesan said.

Carol Pucci of the Seattle Times writes about the financial effects of dynamic currency conversion being increasingly used by merchants overseas.

Ted Griffiths continues his reporting for The News Journal on the acquisition of MBNA by Bank of America - today writing about how the acquisition might lead to better deals for cardholders, particularly cardholders who are customers of MBNA's agent banks.

Michelle Simakis writes for the Newhouse News Service on why credit cards may be the safest form of payment.