It's about 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, November 18th. To the left and out of the blue I hear "Y2k" on CNBC and up comes a report on the increasing costs of y2k in the banking industry.

They bring on Rick Brooks, a Wall Street Journal reporter, who goes through why the banks are being "so badly affected" and then they list them in this order of spending... BofA, Chase, JP Morgan, Bankers Trust.

Why are costs rising so much? "Banks underestimated the size of the problem".

I also see from this list that some of these same banks are also exposed to hedge fund problems.

Anyone else catch the report?

Mike ===============================================================

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), November 18, 1998

Answers

Didn't see that one. Banks are notorious for underplaying costs.

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), November 18, 1998.

I saw it. "We told you so" is the only thought that comes to mind at this point in time. Beware the Ides of March 1999. When the 2nd quarter reporting starts to be formulated. Thats when TSHTF for the markets. And that's the point most of the members of this forum have been making for the last 3 months.

-- John Galt (jgaltfla@hotmail.com), November 18, 1998.

Gary North just posted a link about the merger of Norwest and Wells Fargo thats a good read. They'll be the third larges tbank here now and have challenges integrating their IT systems even without Y2K.

-- Robert Michaels (sonofdust@net.com), November 18, 1998.