Bank spokesmen said the problem affected some 100,000 people, about 10 percent of Sweden's online banking customers, who had not upgraded their Web browsers to the latest versions. They said it was not the millennium bug that stopped people from accessing their cash or investment balances but the fact that they were using a version of the Netscape browser due to expire at the end of 1999. The Netscape home page warns users of older browsers that the program's security certificate, used for Internet banking, expired on Dec. 31.
Swedish banks are world leaders in Internet banking.
SEB has an estimated 350,000 Internet clients in a country boasting one of the highest levels of Internet connections. Handelsbanken and Finnish-Swedish banking group MeritaNordbanken said they had not experienced any problems. Swedbank said it took measures ahead of the year-end to ensure browser software was upgraded. After a year of first-class cruising on DSL, I got bumped back to steerage. Custom News ZDNet News brings you a summary of top headlines each business day.