Y2K bug causes minor glitches in banks' email and credit card systems

Link Sunday, January 2 2:07 PM SGT

BEIJING, Jan 2 (AFP) 

A small number of banks in China experienced problems with internal email and credit card systems as a result of the Y2K computer bug, but no major breakdown occurred, officials said Sunday.

In Qinghai province, which borders Tibet in western China, branches of the People's Bank of China encountered breakdowns in their internal and interbank email systems, said Chen Jing, director general of the People's Bank of China's department of technology.

"It's an isolated case. They're using telephones to communicate in the meantime until the system is repaired," said Chen.

The People's Bank, China's central bank, has set up a command centre to monitor problems in banks throughout the country.

Machines which process credit card transactions also broke down at some banks on January 1, but have been repaired and were operating properly Sunday, Chen said.

Many banks saw an increase in customers using automatic teller machines (ATMs) to print balance statements on December 31 so they would have a record in case any computer troubles cause problems in the banks' records, Chen said.

But he said no bank runs or major incidences occurred.

"We haven't received a single complaint from anyone so far," Chen said. "It's going better than we expected."

ATM machines, most of which were shut down to avoid problems on December 31 and January 1, began operating on Sunday and did not show any hiccups.

Elsewhere in China, computer systems used to run the nation also appear to be working fine.

The government's emergency co-ordination body, the National Y2K Information Support Centre, on Sunday said China's two nuclear power plants, as well as its aviation, roadway, maritime, telecommunications and others systems did not report any problems.

"All departments are functioning normally," said an official at the Centre.

Taxi meters in Jiangsu province in eastern China blanked out, forcing drivers and passengers to do calculations by hand, he said, but added they were isolated cases.

China, while appearing to have passed the millennium switchover unscathed, is preparing for Monday when the bulk of businesses reopen for full operation after the holiday.

"We'll stay on 24-hour alert until January 4," a Beijing city command post spokesman said. Every major city and every province has set up a command centre to report problems to the national centre.

International experts have also warned some Y2K troubles might not appear until well into the New Year, with February 29, a leap year date, especially likely to trigger date-related computer errors.

The national command centre plans and the People's Bank's command post plan resume their watch for the bug from February 28 through February 29.

-- Uncle Bob (UNCLB0B@AOL.COM), January 02, 2000