Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council	Press Release
For Immediate Release	July 8, 1998

Year 2000 Phase II Workprogram

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council’s Task Force on Supervision today issued an updated work program for conducting Year 2000 examinations in all Federally supervised banks, savings associations and credit unions, as well as service providers and certain software vendors supporting these financial institutions (Attachment: Year 2000 Phase II Workprogram). The work program is designed for use during a second round of examinations beginning later this summer. The examination procedures are risk focused and will help the examiner to determine if the institution has addressed the Year 2000 problems inherent in many computer software, hardware, and environmental systems.

The procedures are designed to focus primarily on the adequacy of the institution's plans and processes for achieving Year 2000 readiness, with particular emphasis placed on the final phases of the Year 2000 project-testing and implementation-and on the institution's contingency plans. Testing is considered the most critical phase of Year 2000 project management efforts of financial institutions, service providers and software vendors.

On-site examinations of service providers, software vendors and institutions with in-house programming will be completed by December 31, 1998 and on-site examinations of serviced and turnkey institutions will be completed by March 31, 1999. A first round of on-site reviews of financial institutions, service providers and software vendors was completed on June 30, 1998.

The objectives of the new examination procedures are to follow up on results of previous Year 2000 reviews and to determine whether institutions are following guidance issued by the FFIEC. The FFIEC has issued Year 2000 guidance on the following topics: project management; business risk; due diligence concerning service provider and software vendor readiness; impact on customers; testing; customer awareness program; and contingency planning. In addition, the Work Program in intended to assist the examiner in:

• determining whether the institution has implemented an effective plan for testing Year 2000 renovated products and implementing Year 2000-ready products into their production environment;
• assessing the adequacy of the institution’s Year 2000 contingency plans;
• determining if the institution is handling Year 2000 issues in a safe and sound manner; and
• identifying whether corrective action may be necessary to assure an appropriate level of attention to Year 2000 readiness activities.