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The standard response to any written inquiry regarding a firm's 2000 compliance is that the firm is well aware of y2k, has a team working on it, and the code will be ready for testing by December 31, 1998.
This canned response is now so universal that it has created a premilinary crisis date: Jan. 2, 1999. That is the day when most or all of the reassuring form letters become dead letters. That is the day that the lawyers, like sharks, will begin to circle corporate America. That is the day of preliminary judgment. On that day, a thousand CIO's will inform a thousand CEO's that the company's y2k project is behind, and that the day of testing must be delayed.
Bank of America and Nation's Bank are about to join, creating the largest bank in the United States. Here is what Bank of America promises.
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BankAmerica, like all financial institutions, is faced with the challenge of correctly storing and processing data containing dates from the year 2000 and beyond, i.e., becoming Year2000 compliant.
Several years ago, we began updating our existing computer systems for the year 2000 and acquiring new systems that are Year2000 compliant. Last year we formalized the process by creating a Year2000 Program Office with corporate-wide and global responsibility to coordinate, track and report on plans and progress. BankAmerica's plans for its major systems target December 31, 1998 as the date for these systems to be Year2000 compliant. This will allow us to test year-end 1998 processing and will give us a full year for further testing of both systems and interfaces.
Some of our systems are already compliant and others are now being made compliant. Interfaces with the systems of customers, suppliers, governmental agencies and other financial institutions are being managed by the responsible business units within BankAmerica.
We are progressing in our efforts and expect BankAmerica will be prepared for the year 2000.
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