WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. banking regulators Friday announced an agreement with a major regional electronic funds transfer network, TransAlliance L.P., to speed up its lagging Year 2000 preparations.
TransAlliance, which processes ATM and debit card transactions for nearly 800 banks, thrifts and credit unions in the western United States and Canada, committed to complete Y2K testing of the computer systems serving all of its customers by JUNE 30, the deadline set by Federal banking agencies for all financial institutions. The company processes around 42 million electronic transactions every month ...
The company agreed to provide U.S. banking agencies with reports on its strategy for meeting the deadline, its progress in doing so and its contingency plans for dealing with any problems that might occur after the millennium date change.
The agencies involved are the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision ...
TransAlliance, a partnership between a group of banks located mainly in the U.S. Northwest and computer services giant Electronic Data Systems Corp. (NYSE:EDS - news), said it was committed to getting its Y2K preparations on track ...
''We are pleased that we could agree with the regulators on the steps we are taking to ensure Y2K readiness by June 30, 1999. We are confident we will meet this date,'' its president and chief executive officer, James Benson, said in a statement.
In terms of the agreement, if TransAlliance fails to meet the deadline, its customers will be free to break their contracts with it and switch to another service provider ...
The company had undergone a management shake-up and was fully focused on meeting the federal deadline, Merrick said.
''There's a new management team that's been put in place within the last three weeks,'' he said. ''They're taking the full responsibility for getting it fixed, and it's their number one priority.'' ...
dailynews.yahoo.com
GUYS ... WE'RE TALKING 5 WEEKS FROM TODAY!!!!!!! Wonder what happened to that old management team?
Sure could use Cheeky Kid's "warm fuzzies" about now.
BTW - EDS is real busy these days. GM is giving them a $75 million bonus to get their Y2K stuff done in time too. Either EDS is gonna make a helluva lot of money off of fixing this Y2K stuff at the last minute, or their gonna get sued BIG time ... or they have some VERY smart lawyers who wrote up a very tight contract.
Then again ... maybe that Y2K bill ... if it's ever passed ... will cover EDS's and the FED's *ss. I have mixed feelings about that bill. Always have. Too many companies waited too long. Didn't provide adequate funds. Didn't provide management support. Listened to the lawyers - who told them to send out generic B.S. statements.
The last conference where I spoke was a "Risk Assessment & Litigation" deal in D.C. at the Watergate Hotel in early '98. Audience was mostly corporate attorneys. Speakers (except for myself and one other guy) were attorney's. I know how this game was/is played.
Cheryl |
