To go along with the fortune article that you posted, here is another one that speaks to some of the same points. Needles to say, I think BKB has positioned itself well to serve its customers as Y2K approaches and it will be able to acquire other banks and or accounts for a song in the not so distant future.
full text can be found at link below
Regulations demand compliance / 'Stakes are enormous' in vaccinating financial field against the bug
All regulated financial institutions will be examined for compliance by June, and those not on track will be helped and closely watched.
But regulators can only do so much, Kelley, the Fed governor, said in his congressional testimony. Financial institutions must put their own houses in order.
The year 2000 problem will affect bank mergers, said Eric Withrow, an analyst with SNL Securities in Charlottesville. "A lot of buyers are starting to back away," he said, if they are well along on preparations and the seller isn't. He expects an increase in merger activity this summer, a decrease next year as the deadline nears, and resumption of business as usual after 2000.
Regulators may urge noncompliant banks to sell out to someone who can bail them out, he said, and any buyer willing to take on the problem will get a break on the price.
The year 2000 bug probably won't affect the biggest mergers, he said. They'll go ahead and do their deal but wait until after the change to combine their businesses.
One of the biggest bank deals of the year was propelled at least partly by the bug, according to a recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer. CoreStates Financial Corp. decided to sell to First Union Corp. because CoreStates was afraid it couldn't be year 2000 compliant, its chairman said in answer to a question at the shareholders' meeting that approved the buyout. The remark was little noticed amid all the other issues surrounding the merger.
gatewayva.com
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