Capital Briefs: EBT Firm Agrees to Speed Year-2000 Tests

Transalliance signed an agreement with banking regulators Friday to expedite year-2000 testing with its ATM, credit card, and debit card clients.

Under the accord, reached with all five agencies, Transalliance must complete all outside testing and be year-2000 compliant by June 30. If the company misses the deadline, it must release interested clients from their contracts and transfer them, without penalty, to another service provider.

"We are confident we will meet this date," James D. Benson, president and chief executive officer of Transalliance, said in a statement.

Transalliance provides electronic funds transfer services to approximately 800 financial institutions in Canada and the western United States, principally Oregon, Washington, and California. Formed in 1996, the company is jointly owned by members of the Exchange ATM/POS network and Electronic Data Systems.

It is the third service provider to be forced to sign a year-2000 agreement with bank regulators. Regulators struck a similar deal in March with Atlanta-based First Data Corp.

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