In Brief: Reminder to Banks On Year 2000 Plans

The Comptroller's Office is asking banks to make sure that their computer systems are prepared for the year 2000.

In a June 17 advisory letter, the regulator said banks should consult with vendors and customers to ensure that the institution's computer systems won't crash at the start of the year. It said the bank "should develop and implement an action plan to deal with any changes required to achieve year 2000 compatibility."

The problem some banks face is that many computers are not programmed to handle dates after 1999. Some computers will interpret 2000 as 1900, which would cause numerous calculating and record-keeping problems.

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