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| December 9, 1999 |
| Financial Supervisory Agency (FSA)
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Addressing the Year 2000 Computer Problem |
I. |
Year 2000 Readiness of Financial Institutions |
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| 1. | In compliance with
the order entitled "Submission of Materials Regarding Efforts to
Deal with the Year 2000 Problem," dated September 3, 1999, issued
pursuant to Article 24, Paragraph 1 of the Banking Law, etc., a total of
1,522 financial institutions (deposit-taking financial institutions,
insurance companies, securities companies, and investment trust
management companies) submitted reports on their year 2000 readiness.
According to these reports, all financial institutions had completed
modifications and internal testing on their important systems by the end
of November. Currently, financial institutions have been conducting
simulation drills based on their contingency plans that had been
prepared by all institutions. By means of these drills, financial
institutions have been endeavoring to further improve their contingency
plans. As of the end of October, 98% of all financial institutions
stated that they were conducting simulation drills, and 74% of all
institutions stated that they planed to conduct the drills more than
once. These drills are for such as internal communication procedures,
confirmation of procedures for restoring systems, and manual procedures
for business operations. However, with regard to the details of the contingency plans, the FSA considered 29 institutions not to be satisfied, which stated that, for example, their contingency plans did not include principles to cope with risks other than system risk. These institutions are being requested to submit supplementary reports pursuant to Article 24, Paragraph 1 of the Banking Law, etc.
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| 2. | Most of financial
institutions stated that, over the rollover period, a number of their
employees would come in to work to deal with the year 2000 problem. They
will make data backup at the year-end, confirm the startup of their
systems on January 1 and conduct confirmation tests of BOJ-NET, the
Zengin System, and other settlement and transactions systems on January
2 etc. Excluding some credit cooperatives, etc., 811 deposit-taking
financial institutions of those that own CD/ATM (total 914) will work
the machines on December 31. In these institutions, two foreign banks
will work CD/ATM around the clock, and the others will cease to work the
machines by 9 p.m. From January 1 to January 3, a small number of
institutions will work CD/ATM (8 institutions on January 1, and 9
institutions on January 2 and January 3).
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| II. | Structures for the Rollover Period
in the FSA and Local Finance Bureaus The FSA has currently been strengthening structures for information-communication. In November, it curried out the third information-communication drill (the second one on the government level) with participating financial institutions, industry bodies and network operators. In addition to this, the FSA has intensively been conducting inspection and monitoring on financial institutions. The following is a structure prepared for the rollover period in the FSA and local finance bureaus. In the short period of less than one month remaining before the year 2000, the FSA, in cooperation with other ministries and agencies, will have a flawless structure for dealing with the problem toward the rollover period.
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| 1. | Staff The FSA staff members will deal with the matters below constantly. Particularly, from December 31 to January 4 morning (from December 29 to January 4 morning for international affairs), they will work in relays around the clock. In addition, local finance bureau offices are also to be staffed every day, mainly for business hours, during the same period
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| 2. | Gathering of Information As soon as any problems occur, the FSA will receive status reports in a certain form from the institution on the condition of problems (including sources of the problems and the outlook for the restoration). Regarding these reports, pursuant to Article24, Paragraph 1 of the Banking Law, etc., the FSA has required financial institutions (deposit-taking financial institutions, insurance companies, securities companies, and investment trust management companies) to submit reports on the problems occurring during the rollover period (and a certain period including February 29, the leap day), as soon as the institutions perceive the problems. This was done by means of a notice entitled "Submission of Materials Regarding Problems Caused by the Year 2000 Problem during the Rollover Period and on the Leap Day" dated December 2, 1999. In addition, the set-up time reports are to be submitted everyday from the industry bodies and network operators from December 30 to January 5. These reports include as follows; i) outcomes of the confirmation of the startup of their systems (January 1), ii) outcomes of confirmation tests of BOJ-NET, the Zengin System, and other settlement and transactions systems (January 2), iii) condition of the startup of their business on the first day (January 4) and the second day (January 5) and others.
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| 3. | Information to the Public Information in the status reports, which the FSA would receive from financial institutions, financial bodies and network operators, will be put together by the FSA and submitted to the Cabinet. In addition, the FSA will periodically release the information on the condition of Y2K problems by press release, on the website (http://www.fsa.go.jp/indexe.html), and through telephone service system (03-3506-0091) from December 30, on the schedule below.
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| Inquiries: Mr. Teruuchi or Mr. Kitagawa Y2K Task Force Financial Supervisory Agency Tel.: 03-3506-6180 |