Capital Briefs: Europe, Japan Banks Seen Prepared for 2000

Federal Reserve Board Governor Roger W. Ferguson Jr. said Thursday that he does not expect the millennium computer bug to disrupt banks in Europe or Japan.

European banks have finished converting to the euro and are focused full-time on the year-2000 bug, he said at a Bank Administration Institute conference.

"The experience gained by the banks in testing with financial services counterparts for the euro conversion will, I hope, provide efficiencies for comparable year-2000 testing," Mr. Ferguson said.

Japanese banks, though slow to realize the significance of their year- 2000 problems, have made significant progress in recent months, he said. "The Japanese regulators are scrutinizing their banks closely, and I understand the Bank of Japan is conducting four industrywide domestic tests between now and June," he said.

The organizations that run the global payment mechanisms also are moving quickly to resolve millennium bug problems, he said. Chips, Euroclear, and Cedel Bank are testing their systems and working cooperatively among themselves and with customers, he said.

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