Wellness checks on major shared systems of banks in Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced this morning (7:00 a.m. on January 1) that it has received reports on the first full round of wellness checks on all the major shared system providers to the banking industry in Hong Kong, including Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Ltd. According to the reports, all these shared systems are working normally.

The major shared system providers include JETCO, EPSCO, VISA and MASTERCARD.

Earlier this morning, the HKMA confirmed that the 24-hour systems of banks in Hong Kong, which include automatic teller machines and telephone banking systems, had passed into the new millennium without problem.

Banks are required to report to the Event Management Centre (EMC) of the HKMA extensive information on their operations and on any Year-2000-related problems they may encounter during the Year 2000 rollover period. So far no reports of any problems have been received.

"We shall continue to monitor the situation closely and shall be receiving the results of further wellness checks on other systems from banks over the next two days," said an HKMA spokesperson.

The EMC of the HKMA has been in operation since 2:00 p.m. on December 31 1999 to monitor the operation of banks into the millennium.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority

1 January 2000