In Brief: Fed Tells Ga. Bank to Speed Year-2000 Work

For the second time this month, the Federal Reserve Board has turned up the heat on a bank because of year-2000 concerns.

The regulator has ordered Adairsville (Ga.) Bancshares and its subsidiary, Bank of Adairsville, to hire a manager and an independent consultant to deal with year-2000 issues, and to assess its mission- critical systems. The bank must then submit a written plan to deal with its problems.

The order, issued Dec. 10 but released last week, gives the bank until mid-January to complete these and other tasks.

Bank of Adairsville, a $37 million-asset institution, was also instructed to provide the Fed with a written plan to "maintain sufficient capital at the bank" and to better monitor the volatility of its assets.

This action follows a similar order issued against Zia New Mexico Bank of Tucumcari, N.M., on Dec. 7. Zia New Mexico has until Jan. 7 to create a plan to fix its year-2000 problems.