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From Computer Currents

Those of us who attempt to learn about y2k are being placed in the camp of the crazies. Now we are being placed in the camp of the ignorant.

" Y2K Investor Panic Threat By David McGuire, Newsbytes. September 08, 1999

Investor ignorance, and the over-reaction it could potentially cause, is the only real Y2K risk still facing the securities industry, federal regulators and stock market executives said at a press conference today.

"The worst (thing) we have to fear right now is public misperception (and) public fear," Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt said today.

The SEC, New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), confirmed today that their computer systems have been remediated and tested and are now ready for Y2K.

"The first trading day of the new (year) will be business as usual," NYSE Chairman Dick Grasso said today. "We have conducted all of the tests we believe are necessary" to assure that the nation's securities trading systems have indeed been remediated, he added.

To further protect investors, the SEC has vowed to shut down investment firms that do not provide adequate proof of their Y2K remediation efforts by mid-November.

Long one of the most aggressive federal regulators in the area of Y2K remediation, the SEC has already filed a slew of actions against non-compliant investment firms.

Because of the agency's confidence regarding its systems, the SEC is now turning much of its effort toward investor outreach.

"The purpose of today's conference was to give investors confidence that (the date roll over) is not going to be a major financial dislocation," SEC Year 2000 Coordinator Mike Quinn told Newsbytes.

A recent poll conducted by the Securities Industry Association (SIA) indicated that roughly 90 percent of investors have a "high degree of confidence" that the date roll over will not adversely effect their investments, said SIA president Marc Lackritz.

Only a small percentage of the investors surveyed indicated that they had plans to do anything differently with their money in preparation for Jan. 3, 1999 - the first trading day of the New Year, Lackritz said.

The securities industry will perform another industry-wide test on Saturday Jan. 1, 2000 to test their beliefs that all of the sector's mission- critical systems are prepared for Y2K.

In preparation for Y2K, securities industry leaders, working in conjunction with the SEC have published a "Year 2000 Investor Kit." The kit advises investors to: Keep good records, taking particular care to keep copies of recent bank and account statements; Stay informed about Y2K developments; Invest for the long term, avoiding drastic changes to investment habits; and For online investors, make sure their PCs are Y2K-compliant."

-- Mike Lang (webflier@erols.com), September 08, 1999

Answers

I'm going to save my bank account statements, but could someone tell me why I'm doing that? I mean if First Union garbles everything, are all the account holders going to convene simultaneously at Ericsson Stadium in Charlotte with our account statements and a representative from the Federal Reserve and basically straighten everything out?

Account statements are worthless as far as the FDIC is concerned. Check out their website if you don't believe that statement.

I'm really pretty confident in the US banks, but I just can't see what good account statements are going to do. Pre-rollover data will be archived. It's the post-rollover stuff that has people worried.

I'd appreciate it if a "big knowledge Polly" would script out a scene showing how I can use an account statement to help me post-rollover.

-- Puddintame (achillesg@hotmail.com), September 08, 1999.

Yes, I can see Hoff and his investor "friends" in a few months, watching the hordes of people waiting to take money out of the bank and the seeing the stock market nose dive into the 5000's and being "amazed" that anyone could believe such a thing was actually happening.

-- a (a@a.a), September 08, 1999.

These bank statements are just part of "The Investor Kit" and are quite important as they allow depositors to think they are accomplishing something.

Investor Kit=Pacifier

Protect without withdrawal. Kinda like a condom with a hole in it.

-- Mike Lang (webflier@erols.com), September 08, 1999.

An article about the "investor kit" is on this thread:

"President's Year 2000 Council, SEC, NASD, SIA Team Up To Educate Investors About Y2K Preparations"

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000w2x

All of this reminds me of recent comments by the banking industry about ATMs. Just because ATMs will most likely be compliant does not necesarily mean that there will be enough cash available to fill ATM's. Just because the stock exchanges will most likely be compliant does not necessarily mean that stock prices will remain high in December or January when investors begin to understand the worldwide status of Y2K repairs.

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), September 08, 1999.