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Asian banks report smooth roll into 2000

SINGAPORE: Banks in the Asia Pacific region on Saturday reported a trouble-free entry into the new millennium, untouched so far by the much feared Y2K computer bug.

Central banks in Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, India, the Philippines, Singapore and Hong Kong said they had experienced no glitches during the rollover.

Central banks around the world have been on the alert for any problems related to Year 2000 (Y2K) rollover, during which some computers were expected to misread 2000 as 1900 and cause systems to crash or malfunction.

Most Asian countries had repeatedly assured that they were "Y2K ready" after spending substantial sums to fight the bug.

Japan's Financial Supervisory Agency said at midday on Saturday that it had received no reports of any problems either after the local rollover at midnight or the GMT rollover, which came at 9.00 a.m. in Japan.

"No reports of disorders related to Y2K affecting financial institutions' customers and operations have been made to the FSA," the agency said in a statement.

Half an hour after the GMT rollover, the Bankers Association spokesperson for Y2K issues in New Zealand, Colin MacDonald, told Reuters that the industry had no reports of computer problems.

"As far as we are concerned, everything appears to be, to continue to be fine," MacDonald said, adding that the banks would progressively check their systems over the next few days.

Australia, the first major economy to enter 2000, said it had done so with its financial systems working fine.

The central Reserve Bank of Australia said just after midnight GMT that the latest round of tests confimed earlier indications of a smooth transition to 2000, with electronic cash, credit and debit card systems working normally and records being accurately maintained.

Australia's biggest bank, National Australia Bank, said it had experienced no problems. "We are in great shape," said spokesman Brandon Phillips.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority said all major shared system providers to the territory's banking industry were working normally, including credit cards, 24-hour banking systems and automatic teller machines.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore said the island state's financial sector crossed over into the new year with no reports of Y2K related incidents.

The Malaysian central bank said the whole banking system "underwent a smooth rollover".

A statement from the Bank of Korea said South Korea's 2,052 financial institutions including banks, securities house and insurance firms had not experienced any Y2K bug problems.

The Philippine central bank said it had tested its systems and those of the Philippine Clearing House Corp shortly after midnight and no problems were encountered.

The Taiwan government Y2K centre said all major banks, including the central bank, state-owned Bank of Taiwan, and the "big three" commercial banks - Chang Hwa, First and Hua Nan - had no Y2K problems. The Reserve Bank of India said its cheque processing systems rolled over smoothly to the new millennium.-Reuters