Barclays, Standard ease into new millennium without glitches

GT says there are no problems

Accra (Greater Accra) 3 Jan. 2000

Barclays Bank Ghana Limited and Standard Chartered Bank slid into the new millennium on Saturday without any hitch associated with the millennium bug, saying their extensive preparedness has paid off very well.

The two banks, which are foreign-owned with some Ghanaian shareholders, were the only ones, which were open with 24-hour command centres. They said their systems are in order and working perfectly.

Ms Harriet Phillips, Y2K Manager of Barclays, told the Ghana News Agency at 0056 hours that their systems rolled over without any problem and "we are happy with the turn of events.

"We told you that we were compliant and we have proved it. What is left now is to wait for Monday and see how we go ahead with transactions."

She said they were still undertaking tests, adding "we are going to have a full report on Monday. But now everything has clocked well and we are happy it is so."

Mr Ben Bannerman, Head Global Technology at Standard Chartered Bank, said, "the roll over was smooth, with no problems".

"We at Chartered, have checked all our systems and the dates are OK. Our command centre is operating and will be doing so till the night of January four.

Mr Sui Fiawoo, IT Manager at Ghana Commercial Bank command centre, near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, said on Friday that they were not expecting any glitches and hope to carry out normal work on Monday third January.

GRi../

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Accra (Greater Accra) 3 Jan. 2000

Ghana Telecom (GT) officials on Saturday popped champagne as they eased into the new millennium without any glitches.

GT had carried a heavy burden of making sure the country's telecommunications system worked smoothly and the officials said "we have succeeded in doing just that - smooth sailing".

As at an hour 45 minutes after midnight, GT said they had had no problems from any of their regional and district offices and both international and local calls were going out and coming in.

Mr Dickson Oduro-Yaning, Chairman of GT's Y2K Committee, said they had tested their machines before midnight and did not anticipate any problems.

The ECG main sub-station near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle also said they had not experienced any problems.

GRi../

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