Year 2000 Compliance

STATE OF CONNECTICUT INSURANCE DEPARTMENT August 22, 1997 Bulletin No. FS-18-97 TO: ANNUAL STATEMENT CONTACT PERSON OF ALL DOMESTIC INSURANCE COMPANIES, FRATERNAL BENEFITS SOCIETIES, HEALTH CARE CENTERS AND LIFE INSURANCE DEPARTMENTS OF SAVINGS BANKS AUTHORIZED TO DO BUSINESS IN THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT RE: YEAR 2000 COMPLIANCE All Connecticut domestic insurance companies should have developed a detailed plan that addresses millennium constraints and the approach necessary to successfully accomplish implementation prior to the turn of the century. Each company must accommodate the date millennia constraint (change to Year 2000) to ensure that all conversion activities are complete and all systems will be available, by that millennia date, to accomplish uninterrupted processing and accuracy of system output, especially systems affecting financial databases used for annual statement processing. Companies should consider that, due to prior absence of the century value, "19" is assumed as the default century in most data processing routines. This has the potential to cause software failures and unpredictable processing results at the turn of the century when the century value becomes "20". Further, you should be aware, since applications are designed based on data, the two byte year virus has permeated throughout the industry into application code. This requires special programing to eradicate. To alleviate this problem, the year date fields should be a minimum of four characters or explicitly redefine the code to accommodate the turn of the century date rcq uirement. A copy ofyour detailed plan of operation for Year 2000 compliance should be forwarded to this Department for review in connection with your next regularly scheduled financial condition examination. Ifyou have any questions regarding this bulletin, you may contact Frances J. O'Connor, Director ofthe Examination Division, at (860) 297-3814. PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF THIS BULLETIN USING THE ATTACHED FORM. Phone: P. 0. Box 816 Hartford, CT 06142-0816 An Equal Opportunity Employer