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Japan Bankers Association

TOKYO: The Japan Bankers Association said on Sunday that computer systems managed by it and by the Tokyo Bankers Association were able to process data normally during tests conducted earlier in the day.

The systems tested on Sunday were: the data communication system or so-called Zengin system connecting 156 financial institutions operating here, the foreign exchange yen settlement system used by 46 institutions, and the individual credit information system used by 122 institutions, the Japan Bankers Association said in a statement.

However, two financial institutions using the data communication system reported that they were unable to confirm the test results, not because of any Y2K problem but because their internal data processing systems were not ready for the test, a spokesman for the Association said.

"The Zengin system worked fine and our test data has reached them properly. However, the internal system at those institutions were not ready to process the data," the spokesman said.

The Association will conduct another test for those two on Monday, he said. The spokesman declined to give the names of the two institutions.

The Japan Bankers Association, the largest industry-wide group in Japan, comprises 184 individual member institutions, both foreign and Japanese, and 72 regionally based bankers associations.-Reuters