readiness, and certainly no one can predict with confidence exactly how the century date change will unfold internationally. there are three reasons for this difficulty. first, there is no single indicator that can be used to judge the overall year 2000 readiness of any country, including the united states. second, the state of readiness is a moving target. judgements are usually based on anecdotal information obtained either firsthand through interviews or surveys or second - hand through other sources. the best information is subject to change. finally, while it may be possible to reach conclusions about the year 2000 readiness of individual industry sectors, it remains difficult to assess the interdependency of critical systems across industry sectors. in addition, the state of year 2000 readiness of a country ’ s public sector may not be an accurate indicator of the status of its private sector. with that said, let me briefly summarize my own observations on international year 2000 readiness of the financial sector. i do not have information on all countries, and cannot discuss them in great detail. i do believe that, as with the united states, in most countries the financial sector was probably somewhat ahead of other sectors in recognizing the year 2000 problem, and is probably somewhat more advanced in remediation. i am optimistic that the western european banking sector, in general, will continue its hard work to be year 2000 ready. i have spoken with a number of western european financial market participants about the year 2000 issue, and each of them has stressed the commitment of his or her organization to do everything possible to limit any year - 2000 - related disruption. although the conversion of computer systems to accommodate the euro was a high priority for most western european banks, the european commission indicated in a report last december that the financial sector was “ exemplary ” in its progress and the level of coordination taking place. the experience gained by the banks in testing with financial service counterparts for the euro conversion will, i hope, provide efficiencies for comparable year 2000 testing. i understand that there is considerable progress in japan ’ s year 2000 readiness. in april of last year, it was unclear whether the japanese recognized year 2000 as an industry - wide problem. in addition, it was difficult to determine whether the public or private sector had developed clear plans to ensure year 2000 readiness. during the past few months, however, i have read reports from rating agencies indicating that japanese banks seem to be making progress and that the results of their conversations with japanese banks have been “ somewhat

these failures on your business. further, financial institutions will need to test fallback procedures or work - around processes that mitigate the effect of such failures on their ability to continue to conduct business. – 6 – if we accept the year 2000 problem as a worldwide problem, then we must focus our attentions broadly. whether the extent of your business resides only within one community or extends internationally, some portion of every firm ’ s year 2000 efforts must be coordinated and cooperative. this conference is an example of such coordination and cooperation. finally, we must continue to be a reliable source of accurate and sound information to maintain the public ’ s trust. i do not doubt that we can collectively rise to these challenges. * * *