FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY

Charter One Completes Y2K Testing

CLEVELAND, July 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Charter One Bank, the principal subsidiary of Charter One Financial, Inc. (Nasdaq: COFI - news), announced today that it has met all reporting timetables established by federal banking regulators for Year 2000 contingency planning and for testing of mission-critical internal and external systems.

The testing is the culmination of a process begun in mid-1996, leading to the bank's certification of all of its deposit, loan and ATM systems.

``We have been working diligently on this initiative so that customers can be assured a smooth transition into the next century,'' said Charles John (Bud) Koch, Charter One's chairman and chief executive officer. ``Our customers should feel confident that their banking institution is Y2K Ready.''

For additional customer assurance, the bank is launching a customer awareness campaign under the theme Y2K Ready. A Y2K Ready graphic will be seen on ATMs, lapel buttons worn by bank employees and in the bank's newspaper ads.

The campaign also addresses common questions about Y2K banking issues via a toll-free Y2K Answerline (1-877-Y2K-0001) and on the internet at www.charterone.com . The web site includes Charter One's most recent report on Y2K to the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as links to authoritative sources on the date change issue.

``We have committed more than $4 million in out-of-pocket costs, in addition to substantial internal staff time, into our Y2K preparations,'' Koch said, ``and virtually every employee has played a role in achieving this successful effort.''

Charter One has $24.6 billion in total assets, making it the 32nd largest bank holding company in the country. The bank currently has 340 branch locations in Ohio, Michigan, New York, Massachusetts and Vermont. Additionally, Charter One Mortgage Corp., the bank's mortgage banking subsidiary, operates 40 loan production offices across 12 states, and Charter One Auto Finance, the bank's indirect auto finance subsidiary, generates loans through auto dealerships in nine states.

-- Sista In 'Da Hood (Sista@Da.Hood), July 05, 1999

Answers

Wonderful news. Self reported, but still wonderful. Now, If we could only get the results of their Audit publicized.

Chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), July 05, 1999.

I hope it's true, too. Weiss report had them as below average in completion of remediation only a few moths ago. I know first hand that the appraisal department threw together their whole contingency paln in four hours.

-- Anonimouse (kay@iinc.com), July 05, 1999.

Okay - so we now know that effective July 1, 1999, the Clinton administration has told the banks, utilities, and finance companies that they can begin announcing "we are compliant" in advertisements.

This after finding out that bland 'we will be compliant" announcements from the administration and news media were not re-assuring the population enough......

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), July 06, 1999.