Thursday July 1, 1:20 pm Eastern Time

Financial markets are not ready for Year 2000-BIS

BASLE, Switzerland, July 1 (Reuters) - The world's financial markets are still not ready for the Year 2000 change and much work still needs to be accomplished, the Joint Year 2000 Council at the Bank for International Settlements said on Thursday.

``The productive exchanges today between senior representatives of major public and private financial sector organisations made clear the significant progress on readiness being made in financial markets,'' Council Chairman Roger Ferguson was quoted as saying in a statement.

``However, the meeting also indicated that much work is still to be accomplished; therefore we will need to remain focused in our efforts and avoid complacency,'' he said.

The Joint Year 2000 Council on Thursday held a meeting of public and private sector representatives of the world's banking, securities and insurance industries.

It noted participation in mandatory tests for the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) interbanking payment system remained low and urged supervisors to check whether participants had successfully tested with the system.

The Joint Year 2000 Council was established in April 1998. It is jointly sponsored by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems, the International Association of Insurance Supervisors and the International Organization of Securities Commissions.

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How many nails will it take??

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), July 02, 1999

Answers

ray, uh three. no, four. five. five nails. i'm postive it's five.

-- corrine l (corrine@iwaynet.net), July 02, 1999.

Oooops, here is a link to the original post.

ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), July 02, 1999.

Ray, I think Corrine was right at 3 nails. One for each wrist and one through the ankles. Its not a pretty sight. This system will not survive.

-- ..- (dit@dot.dash), July 02, 1999.

Just one stake through the heart will do.

-- Betty Alice (Barn266@aol.com), July 02, 1999.