1.   Bank Negara, which has for years been telling the industry toconsolidate, is playing match-maker whereby six or seven large financecompanies will be the anchor companies.

2.   Six anchor companies will ultimately be formed, under which smaller finance companies will be grouped.

3.   Sources said the five or six anchor companies have already been identified.

4.   The exercise, by itself, does not represent repositioning by anchor companies.

5.   The sixth anchor company will be under United Merchant Finance Bhd, and will comprise BBMB Kewangan Bhd, Perdana Finance Bhd, Interfinance Bhd and Delta Finance Bhd.

6.   The sixth anchor company will be under United Merchant Finance Bhd, comprising BBMB Kewangan Bhd, Perdana Finance Bhd, Interfinance Bhd and Delta Finance Bhd.

7.   With the eight anchor companies having been identified, the next stage is to work out details of the respective deals.

8.   Yahaya added Sirim will become the virtual entity whereby vendor companies can interact with their anchor companies through the VDO, which works similar to that of video conferencing.