Financial watchdog gives Y2K all-clear

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said today that the UK financial services sector has successfully completed its first overnight processing cycle since the millennium date change.

Michael Foot, managing director and head of financial supervision at the FSA, said the hard work financial firms had put in had "paid off" and that the industry overall had done a good job of averting any Y2K problems.

"The professionalism and commitment shown over an extended period enable the industry to maintain the confidence of consumers and markets, and to avoid any material disruption," he said.

Foot added that the FSA will continue to monitor progress and that the 29 February leap year requires particular attention, although he said there was "no reason" to expect any problems.

He said the industry has invested a lot of money in tackling the bug, but there had been many additional benefits.

Foot said that the work, some of which will have consisted of previously planned or unplanned upgrades, were valuable business enhancements and not just Y2K fixes.

He said firms should do a "lessons learned" exercise so that they know what worked well and what could be improved when planning future projects.