– are engaged in a similar process. i can assure you that the federal reserve has not spared any effort in preparing its internal systems and the financial services and products we provide to financial institutions for the year 2000. we have completed y2k preparations for our services and products, and in june 1998 we opened a testing facility for our customers. to date, more than 9, 000 financial institutions have tested the services they use with the federal reserve. these represent all of our major customers in terms of transaction volume and dollar amount of the items processed through the federal reserve. we also have tested the automated payment services we provide to federal agencies such as the social security administration to ensure that banks can receive government payments and then post the deposits to their customers ’ accounts. the new york clearing house, in particular, and other private commercial entities that process wholesale and retail payments have followed testing programs similar to ours. no one can say with certainty that there won ’ t be any problems or disruptions during the century rollover. however, based upon the information i have shared with you, we expect that any disruptions or glitches in the united states that do occur will be minor and of limited duration. moreover, because there is an expectation that something somewhere will go wrong, the financial sector – from the regulators to the markets and payment systems to the smallest introducing broker or bank branch – is preparing contingency plans. i would also like to emphasize that a percentage of automated systems are down every day without causing serious disruptions to commercial transactions and markets. for example, 1 – 2 % of atm machines in the united states are down at any given moment – some simply because they are out of paper – yet consumers know to go down the block to another machine or into the bank branch or local supermarket to obtain the cash they need. even more serious disruptions periodically occur : the new york stock exchange and, only last month, the chicago board of trade computers have experienced glitches that caused their markets to close temporarily without causing serious disruption to the us financial markets. in all of these situations, americans react with typical aplomb : they prioritize and address the most serious safety and well - being issues first, and they usually are willing to tolerate some inconveniences and delays related to less - critical needs. increase in readiness information and readiness of other domestic sectors as i said earlier, my assessment of the financial services sector is based on publicly available facts and information. even as late as

for release on delivery 1 : 15 p. m. edt october 19, 2021 welcoming remarks remarks by michelle w. bowman member board of governors of the federal reserve system at the women in banking symposium richmond, va ( via webcast ) october 19, 2021 good afternoon. it is a pleasure to be able to join you today for this conversation, and as a bank regulator and former banker, i am pleased that this conference is making the case for diversity in terms that everyone in business can understand. at any time, but especially now when attracting and keeping skilled and talented employees is so challenging, it only makes sense that you ’ ll get the best employees if both men and women see a business with diverse leadership, and the opportunity to advance. and when a large share of your customers are women, when understanding their perspective is so important to your business, having women in leadership positions will help you serve these customers better and make you a more profitable and successful enterprise. in the year and a half since the pandemic began, life has changed in many ways, deeply impacting how we work and how we spend our time and money. the effects of these changes on the economy have been significant. so today, i would like to focus my discussion on how all of this has affected women in the labor market. of course work has changed for nearly everyone in the labor force, but for women, the changes have arguably been greater during this time than any other since world war ii. back then, millions of women entered the workforce to step into roles historically reserved for men, and this time millions left the workforce to deal with school closures and other changes to home life caused by the pandemic. one question is how durable these changes may be. therefore, today, i will also consider how these shifts may affect women ’ s long - term financial prospects and will end with ideas about potential ways to make it easier for women to join or rejoin the workforce. effects of the pandemic on women ’ s employment when considering the level of employment, i tend to focus on both the unemployment rate and the labor force participation rate. let ’ s start with the unemployment rate. the economic and social distancing restrictions imposed at the onset of the pandemic resulted in enormous job losses, with the unemployment rate surging from 3. 5 percent in february, which was a 50 - year low, to 14. 8 percent in april 2020. women were affected more than men, which is a