Participation of the Hong Kong Banking Sector in Year 2000 Global Payments Systems Test

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) today (15 June) announced that the Hong Kong banking sector has successfully passed its part of the Global Payments Systems Test.

"Everything has gone very well for us in Hong Kong. This further demonstrates the readiness of the Hong Kong banking sector to interface with the global payment infrastructure in processing cross-border multi-currency and foreign exchange transactions," said Mr Raymond Li, Executive Director of the HKMA.

The Global Test, initiated and co-ordinated by the New York Clearing House (NYCH), involves 34 national and international payments systems and networks (including the S.W.I.F.T. network) over 20 jurisdictions, which include the G-7 countries, Australia, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Switzerland.

The main purpose of the Global Test is to promote confidence in the ability of the global payment systems to transfer funds across the world for the Year 2000, in addition to the different domestic payment system tests and external tests conducted by banks with their counterparties.

Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Limited (HKICL) played a liaison role for the Hong Kong banking sector in this Global Test and the test was conducted over the last weekend of 12 and 13 June 1999.

A total of 22 banks in Hong Kong participated in this Global Test to further validate their readiness to interact with the global payment systems in processing global fund transfers. All participating banks have confirmed to HKICL that they did not encounter any Year 2000-related exceptions during the Global Test. The NYCH is collating the test results for each participating jurisdiction and it will announce the overall test results in the near future.

"The results further demonstrate that banks in Hong Kong are making good progress in their Year 2000 work, especially in conducting external test with payment systems and their counterparties," added Mr Raymond Li.

(Please refer to the Annex for more detailed information concerning the participation of the Hong Kong banking sector in the Global Test.)

Hong Kong Monetary Authority

15 June 1999

Annex

Participation of the Hong Kong banking sector in the Global Test

¹Payment transfers in DEM or FRF are counted as payment transfers in EUR.