London Times today

"thousads of customers and investors in a household name institution are facing huge losses because the company has failed to prepare for the millennium bug, city watchdogs warned yesterday.

Pay checks, current accounts, pensions and home loans could be lost and the city of london thrown into cofusion should computers at the firm, thought to be a major bank or pension company, break down because they cannot recognise the date 2000.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA), the City's cheif regulator said that a so-called high impact financial firm was at serious risk of disruption from the millennim bug.

The authority also gave a warnng that seven other medium impact financial firms are at serious risk of failing to be ready on time.

But the watchdog's refusal to identify the main financial institution has started a row in Whitehall. Action 2000 insisted that the comapny should be named and shamed, but the Treasury intervened to back the authority's refusal.

Any pollyanna's left out there

Oh pollyanna, Oh don't you cry for me

-- dick of the dale (rdale@coynet.com), June 26, 1999

Answers

oops din't chek the typin agin

-- dick of the dale (rdale@coynet.com), June 26, 1999.

By the time the public figures out which bank it is, the insiders will have cleaned out the vault of cash. Why wait? Get it out now,... same with stocks. You may not make any interest while you have it out of the market place, but at least you have your nest egg and you are not going to get up some morning and find it has disappeared. I figure after the dust settles, I can probably buy back in at half the price.

Taz...who sleeps real well on that lump in the mattress!!

-- Taz (Tassie @aol.com), June 26, 1999.

I must be the only Brit who doesn't know, bet the entire workforce of the City does, as you say bet they've cleared out their dosh

-- dick of the dale (rdale@coynet.com), June 26, 1999.

Dick of the Dale asks, "Oh pollyanna, Oh don't you cry for me"

Being a manly man, I don't cry for you, but I do worry about you. May use prudence and common sense in all your undertakings.

-- Non Crying Polly (polly@notfor.you), June 26, 1999.

dear polly, please read the original article if you don't believe me, also the NCC report on y2k progress from my previous thread, these are facts, its the polly's who caused the problem in the first place by not taking heed of the warnings years back when it could have been fixed, ever been an IT manager, you sound like the ones I've met

-- dick of the dale (rdale@coynet.com), June 26, 1999.

Nice to see you back, Richard. When something Y2K burps locally, the oldtime regulars return to share. Thanks! So what does July 1 portend on your side of the pond? They've rigged it here to be No Big Deal zzzzzzzz fudge 'n smudge til 2000.

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), June 26, 1999.

While I don't dispute FSA's conclusions, I can't help but wonder what method they use to arrive at them -- surveys? audits? (who does the audit?) Testing (of what sort?) Insider discussions? Remediation budget? Some combination of things? Does anyone know?

There has been some indication in that past that financial services firms either don't know who's being referred to, or who disagree with FSA's evaluations. But you'd expect them to do that. The whole thing sounds disturbingly political.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), June 26, 1999.

The London Times article doesnt have a specific URL but its there.

Look for... Bug 'threat' to savings giant under all the articles.

http://www.sunday-times.co.uk:80/news/pages/Times/ frontpage.html?999

Thanks Dick... be safe! And money wise.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), June 26, 1999.

This should get directly to the article:

http://www.sunday-times.co.uk:80/news/pages/tim/99/06/26/timnw snws01019.html?999

Jerry

-- Jerry B (skeptic76@erols.com), June 26, 1999.

Let's try that again.

http://www.sunday-times.co.uk:80/news/pages/tim/99/06/26/timnw nws01019.html?999

Jerry

-- Jerry B (skeptic76@erols.com), June 26, 1999.

Its listed as TODAYS CONTENTS at the bottom of the front page. Click and article is near top under BRITIAN heading.

June 26 1999
Bug 'threat' to savings giant
BY GAVIN LUMSDEN

[Fair Use: For Educational/Research Purposes Only]

THOUSANDS of customers and investors in a household-name financial institution are facing huge losses because the company has failed to prepare for the millennium bug, city watchdogs warned yesterday.

Pay cheques, current accounts, pensions and home loans could be lost and the City of London thrown into chaos should computers at the firm - thought to be a major bank or pension company - break down because they cannot recognise the date 2000.

The Financial Services Authority, the City's chief regulator, said that a so-called "high impact" financial firm was "at serious risk" of disruption from the millennium bug.

The authority also gave a warning that seven other "medium impact" financial firms - less well-known companies - are at serious risk of failing to be ready in time.

But the watchdog's refusal to identify the main financial institution has started a row in Whitehall. Action 2000, the government agency preparing the rest of the country for the millennium bug, insisted that the company should be named and shamed, but the Treasury intervened to back the authority's refusal, claiming disclosure could plunge the company into chaos.

Action 2000 plans to name organisations under its own aegis and believes the authority should do so too. It has written to Treasury ministers in recent weeks asking that they force the FSA - which regulates banks, building societies and insurers - to identify companies which have fallen behind schedule in making their computer systems millennium compliant.

Action 2000 believes the public has a right to know which companies and services could be disrupted by the millennium bug. It hopes a meeting next month of the National Infrastructure Forum will highlight those utilities, health authorities and police authorities which have been colour coded red because of their systems' lack of readiness for the year 2000. Gwynneth Flower, chief executive of Action 2000, said: "We can't treat the banks differently."

Copyright 1999 Times Newspapers Ltd. This service is provided on Times Newspapers' standard terms and conditions. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material from The Times, visit the Syndication website.

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), June 26, 1999.

Britians Action 2000 National Infrastructure Programme...

http:// infrastructure.bug2000.co.uk/

25 Sectors...

http://infrastructure.bug2000.co.uk/sectors/index.html

Independent Assessment...

http://infrastructure.bug2000.co.uk/forum/ independant/fromhomepage/index.html

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), June 26, 1999.

Hi Ashton and Leska, nice to hear from you again, yes I'm back occasionally with what I hope is real y2k news, unfortunately I've been unemployed for a while, but hopefully soon back in the job market, there are great disruptions in the IT employment field for various reasons, in particular recent tax proposals have and will throw many IT self employed contractors out of business, thus putting many people on the job market at once, employers are now re-employing the best (cherry picking) offering pittance salaries

Oddly enough y2k has gone very quiet in the press, even the obvious conclusions of the NCC survey drew little comment, I'm surprised that the FSA did not keep this information under wraps, I think that Financial Companies have to provide much detail of y2k readiness to the FSA

-- dick of the dale (rdale@coynet.com), June 26, 1999.

Hi Diane, yes if anyone finds out which "household name" it is please let me know, thanks for posting the full article, this computer doesn't allow me to cut and paste (probably made in UK)

-- dick of the dale (rdale@coynet.com), June 26, 1999.

of course you realise that Ms Beckett and Flower are the female Laurel and Hardy UK Gov. y2k act.

I think at this rate premature disclosure will lead to a bank run. If a public utility is non-compliant you can't do anything about it, if a bank is non-compliant you can withdraw your money (if you get there quick enough) I'm surprised that Ms Flower cannot grasp this simple fact. That's why there is a particular danger to the finance. I don't have to tell you this!

-- dick of the dale (rdale@coynet.com), June 26, 1999.

of course you realise that Ms Beckett and Flower are the female Laurel and Hardy UK Gov. y2k act.

I think at this rate premature disclosure will lead to a bank run. If a public utility is non-compliant you can't do anything about it, if a bank is non-compliant you can withdraw your money (if you get there quick enough) I'm surprised that Ms Flower cannot grasp this simple fact. That's why there is a particular danger to finance. I don't have to tell you this!

-- dick of the dale (rdale@coynet.com), June 26, 1999.

Thanks, Richard.

Yes, the U.S. press is pretty Y2K quiet too.

BTW, which are the really good British papers to read... and the not so good.

Sounds like you need to develop employment "plan B." If you were in Silly-Valley, you could just start an internet company and probably get investors.

"Been there, done that, got the tattered tee-shirt." (As a very dear friend from Wales always says). I'd rather plant a garden.

Stay well.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), June 26, 1999.

Oooo, Richard, taxes screwing things up. In the USA the IRS has 20 rules to nitpik just who is an independent contractor and who is an employee. But they decided screw the rules, those ics are getting away with too much $$ so let's reclassify whole groups against our own rules.

We've got examples but it really is boring. Impacts ppl's livelihoods. If the IRS has to morph because of Y2K, you won't see millions weeping unconsolably ;^)

Best of luck job-searching! May you escape the pointy-haired managers and cubicle prisons and find a rewarding invigorating position.

Doesn't sound like UK employers really GI if they're cherry picking and flicking the pits. Jingling coins and misering past the graveyard we go ...

Time Will Tell.

xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx x

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), June 26, 1999.

Here's a CNNfn article on this topic:

http://www.cnnfn.com/1999/06/25/europe/uk_millennium/

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), June 26, 1999.

Here's a link to today's BBC article

And a similar article from March 18th on . From that article: "The FSA says 58% of the leading group were making satisfactory progress"... This is the "leading" group, and only 58% were making "satisfactory progress"??? Not 58% are done.. wrapped up.. tested compliant.. but as of 3 months ago only 58% of the "leading" group (picture a bell curve) were making satisfactory progress.

Would you like a spot of tea with your toast?

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), June 26, 1999.

Oopsie.. didn't format that right... but it works. -bg-

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), June 26, 1999.

Diane, the "best" newspapers (relatively speaking) are

The Times

The Independent

The Guardian

The Daily Telegraph

also the Economist

Personally speaking, I read

Country Life Fortean Times Sussex Life Aperture CAR magazine American Photo Mensa Mag Computer Weekly

I have more or less given up on newspapers, which have now become considerably "dumbed down", the papers mentioned above, the so-called quality dailies all look the same, have big colour pics, huge ads with very few words, large type headings, huge dividing blocks and blank areas, in fact more like comic books than newspapers,I/m not sure whether yours are the same nowadays.

What has happened is that the previous "favourable" tax regime enjoyed by IT consultants administered by the means of having an independent trading company has now been stamped upon by the Labour Government/IRS. From 04/2000 we will have to pay full tax and NICs deducted at source by agencies. Since it will probably be impossible for agencies to afford PAYE salary systems to track many contractors on short term contracts, it is likely that the contract market will diminish or disappear. This is coupled with the fact that many UK employers (who created the so-called skill shortage) are in fact dumping their contractors like mad (all of a sudden) and replacing them with permies. In my position I find that ageism (I hate "ism" words) has played a part in my job searching. Also employers are lookng for such a narrow definition of a particular skill set, ie people who have more or less done exactly the same role in the same industry and worked in exactly the same environment.

I hope to take up a position in the university city of Cambridge which will mean relocating, anyway its a nice part of the country and Cambridge is tidier/cleaner than Oxford, but similar with the magnificent stone university buildings and gardens, and of course punting on the tranquil River Cam. There are many parks, gardens, riverside walks etc within easy reach of the town centre (so it says in my Estate Agents guide!) no its true. Also houses are cheaper than in Sussex, though i don't particularly want to leave "Spring Cottage" in Warnham.

-- dick of the dale (rdale@coynet.com), June 29, 1999.

Diane, yes I should consider Plan B (or Plan 9 maybe), I planned to do this after contracting for a few years, however the best laid plans of mice and dale.....

We are not such an enterprising bunch over here, but I would like to start my own business, or some method of working for myself, I still need to think of some scam that will bring the world to my doorstep "gagging" for whatever I produce.

I'm still trying to see how I can bring together photography and musical composition into some sort of saleable product or service, I need contacts and a break (maybe talent as well!).

With contracting it may have been possible to combine the "day job" with whatever it is I'd rather be doing, more difficult with a 9-5.

-- dick of the dale (rdale@coynet.com), June 29, 1999.

12 institutions out of 160, nearly 7.5 % (haven't got my calc. with me), 7.5 % of financial companies closing down! it is a disaster, wonder what happens to their assets, or rather the assets of the investors, written off?

Yes complacency and disbelief over tea, "wonder how the British hopeful is doing at Wimbledon", no-one will believe it's possible until it happens, then there will be thousands of investors demanding compensation (from whom?).

-- dick of the dale (rdale@coynet.com), June 29, 1999.

come to think of it 7.5% was the figure I predicted for averall non- compliance or possible reduction in GNP

-- dick of the dale (rdale@coynet.com), June 29, 1999.

not so good papers:

any of the tabloids

Sun Mirror Mail Evening Standard (Stannett as the vendors cry)

In fact only the local papers (man bites dog or vice versa) seems to be well not quite so dumbed down, anyway who wants to read about blocked drains in Friday Street

-- dick of the dale (rdale@coynet.com), June 29, 1999.