From...

July 22, 1999
Web posted at: 4:26 p.m. EDT (2026 GMT)

by Thomas Hoffman

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(IDG) -- While most U.S. brokerages appear to have most of their year 2000 work completed, only 22% of foreign investment banks, clearinghouses and stock exchanges have fixed, tested and implemented their systems, according to a recent study.

The study, conducted by the Securities Industry Association and the International Operations Association, was cited in the latest report on the year 2000 readiness of the securities industry and public companies by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).Only 78 out of 650 foreign brokerages and stock exchanges targeted for the survey actually participated in the study. Still, the "majority" of those firms polled had completed less than half of their year 2000 projects. The survey was conducted between February and May this year.

The SEC, meanwhile, still seems to have a lot of year 2000 work of its own to complete. Of the agency's 52 mission-critical systems, only 18 were deemed year 2000-compliant as of June 1. Of the 34 systems in question, 15 were pending replacement, seven were awaiting fixes and another dozen were scheduled to be retired.Among those not yet Y2K ready: the EDGAR database, which contains financial information filed by public companies in 10-Q, 10-K and other earnings reports. The latest EDGAR system, which went live in May, is scheduled to be tested by July 31.