The Financial Supervisory Agency (FSA), a Japanese government watchdog, is threatening to punish financial institutions that fail to prepare sufficiently for the millennium date change. An FSA official said the agency could suspend the operations of these firms. Most of JapanÆs banks and credit unions are dependent on the same interbank system handling national and company account transactions, so one bad apple could corrupt the whole financial barrel. The Federation of Bankers Association of Japan has begun to debate system contingency plans in the event of a breakdown at a single bank.
JAPANESE WATCHDOG MENACES Y2K LAGGARDS
