The Dominican Republic banking system is ready for year 2000. El Siglo newspaper reports that the first alert that the banking system was vulnerable occurred in 1995 when credit cards with expiration dates in 2000 were rejected by the automated systems. Banks began then to investigate what needed to be done. In January 1998, the Monetary Junta set forth the plans to prepare the system for the year 2000. All financial entities participated in the coordinated effort, denominated Project Year 2000. The program’s objectives were met on 31 March 1999. In May 1999, the Central Bank certified Dominican banks that had installed new systems. Due to the interdependency among Dominican banks, all banks have had to work in a coordinated manner. The first step of the strategic plan was to incorporate technological solutions within the financial corporations. The second phase was to verify that clients and strategic partners of the financial sector, such as telephone companies, ATH networks, credit card companies and the 300 largest clients, had also updated their systems, eliminating the Y2K problem. Renato González Disla, informatics director of the Central Bank, and who heads the Project 2000 Follow Up Committee, said the program cost about RD$780 million pesos. Private banking was responsible for 90%, with the Central Bank, and Banks Superintendency also making millionaire investments. Of the total, RD$350 million was spent in new equipment, RD$225 million in new software and RD$210 million was spent to hire consultants and personnel. He says that clients that use credit cards with expiration dates beyond year 2000 can verify that the system works.
