ATM cards safe over New Years

ATM cards safe over New Years

JAKARTA (JP): Anxiety over the effects of the Y2K bug during
the transitional period into the next millennium has prompted the
banking sector, along with other industries reliant upon
computers, to take action.

Aware of the possibilities that electrical and
telecommunication systems may go down during the period, Visa
International reassured on Monday its credit cardholders.

Visa International's country manager, Ellyana C. Fuad, said
around 800,000 cardholders in Jakarta had been informed of the
so-called millennium bug.

"We recommend our cardholders use automatic teller machines
(ATM) cards while traveling or always record their credit card
statement and financial records," she told a media conference.

She said each of Visa International's 15 affiliated banks had
been declared capable of running the company's back-up plans.

The millennium bug, or Y2K, stems from the 1960s when computer
units were larger than they are today. To save memory space,
computer programmers used two digits instead of four to represent
years.

Some systems could read 2000 as 1900 and freeze or delete
data, disrupting everything from heart pacemakers, telephones to
aircraft.

Ellyana said since late last year Visa International had
intensified communications with its members, assuring them that
it was safe to use the cards at banks, ATMs, restaurants and
hotels everywhere during the period.

Mark Burbidge, the company's senior vice president, said Visa
International couldn't guarantee that nothing would happen during
the transitional period, as the Y2K bug is a complicated matter.

"But, we are prepared for all the possibilities," he said.
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