Exam Council Issuing Year-2000 Advisory

By the end of 1998, financial institutions must revise their computer systems to deal with the looming year-2000 problem, according to a government advisory to be issued today.

The advisory, from the Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council, outlines examination procedures to ensure that financial institutions can ward off potentially devastating results.

Experts fear that on Jan. 1, 2000, computer systems will mistake the two-digit "00" in their internal clocks for 1900, causing severe malfunctions or computer program failures.

According to the council, all financial institutions must identify by Sept. 30 any critical computer systems that are vulnerable to year-2000 breakdowns and set priorities for fixing them.

The council said financial institutions that rely on third-party data processors must ensure that their vendors tackle the year-2000 dilemma.

Also, institutions must assess the vulnerability of vaults, security systems, and elevators, all of which may contain microprocessing chips embedded with calender programs.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER