Smooth transition to 2000 for banks

WELLINGTON - Electronic banking transactions switched over to 2000 yesterday without any computer glitches.

Colin Macdonald, of the ANZ Banking Group, said many auto-matic teller machine and eftpos transactions made yesterday were stored as taking place in 2000.

"The ATM system clicks over the day before and it has clicked over successfully so far, so that's a good sign," he said.

"ATMs went over [to January 1] between 3 and 3.30 pm and the sys-tem sees them as transactions taking place on January 1.

"Eftpos cuts over the night be-fore. Although transactions take place today they are stored as tomorrow's transactions, so they're taking place in the year 2000."

The banking system is one of the key areas being monitored for any sign of the Y2K computer bug, which could cause systems to crash if they confuse 2000 with 1900.

Long queues formed outside ATM machines across the country yesterday as people withdrew cash in case the banking system failed.

But Mr Macdonald, appointed to speak on behalf of the country's banks, said that while some ATMs would have run out of cash, no cash shortages had been reported.

"There have been some quite sig-nificant withdrawals but nothing beyond our plans," he said.

"It's the same at supermarkets and gas stations - everyone's left it to the last minute to take any action [to prepare for Y2K]." - NZPA