Annual Report - Y2K DBS Initiative

Corporate Governance

Year 2000 and the DBS Initiative

The Bank defines a Year 2000-ready system or product as one in which neither the performance nor functionality is affected by dates prior to, during or after Year 2000 in accordance with the definition specified by the British Standards Institute.

Cognizant of the Year 2000 impact on software, as early as the 1980s, the Bank began to address this problem. Since then, it has completed the majority of its Year 2000 efforts and has put in place a comprehensive compliance and testing programme that includes both IT and non-IT business components. The Bank is on target for a smooth transition into the new millennium, transparent to customers and counterparties. To achieve our goal, we have committed resources and incurred the expenses necessary to resolving Year 2000 issues. The costs associated with these efforts have been absorbed as operating expenses or capitalised in financial statements. Year 2000 renovation and testing efforts have been largely undertaken by in-house technical experts, together with external consultants where deemed necessary.

Organisation Structure
Y2K DBS Initiative
Best Practices Guide
Managing Specific Risks

A global inventory of all IT hardware/software components, non-IT equipment and interfaces with external parties has been completed. Each item in the inventory has been reviewed for Year 2000 impact and a compliance strategy worked out. As part of this ongoing effort, we continue to monitor the inventory closely to ensure timely completion of all items. We have conducted a series of tests to verify compliance of our critical systems in line with general industry practice for Year 2000. Our focus for 1999 is on conducting external tests with various financial infrastructure providers, following timelines established by The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS).

We are also actively working with external parties, including clients, counterparties, vendors, exchanges, depositories, utilities, suppliers, agents and regulatory agencies, to avoid potential risks the Year 2000 problem poses to us and to the global financial community.

The Bank is taking all reasonable steps to ensure that all computer systems and business services will function without interruption on 1 January 2000 and beyond. Nevertheless, some disruptions may still occur as the Year 2000 problem is complex. Hence the Bank is also focusing on business risk management and contingency planning to ensure business continuity.

DBS' disclosure template, as well as its Year 2000 compliance programme and efforts can be found on the Bank's Year 2000 website.