News

Year 2000 ("Y2K") Disclosure By Public Listed Companies

BackJul 23, 1999
General Announcement
Reference No CU-990708-45189
Submitting Merchant Bank : Not Applicable
Company Name : ADVANCE SYNERGY BERHAD 
Stock Name : ASB
Date Announced : 23/07/1999

Type : Announcement
Subject : YEAR 2000 ("Y2K") DISCLOSURE BY PUBLIC LISTED COMPANIES

Contents :

1. Details of your company and subsidiaries' progress in relation to its activities to address the Y2K issue.

Other than those belowmentioned operating subsidiaries, Advance Synergy Berhad ("ASB") and its remaining operating subsidiaries including United Merchant Group Berhad ("UMG") Group of Companies and Alangka-Suka Hotels & Resorts Berhad ("Alangka-Suka") Group of Companies are Y2K ready.

The operating subsidiaries under the Synergy Card & Payment Services Sdn Bhd ("SCPS") Group of Companies are targeting to be Y2K ready before 30 September 1999. Please also refer to below Table Section.

2. The impact of the Y2K issue if your company and/or subsidiaries fail to be Y2K Ready or are unable to achieve full readiness by the estimated date(s) mentioned above.

If ASB and the operating subsidiaries (other than those belowmentioned) fail to be Y2K ready, the impact of the Y2K issue is not significant as ASB and these subsidiaries are Y2K ready and do not have critical operations associated directly to Y2K issue.

The impact of Y2K issue if UMG Group of Companies fail to be Y2K ready will be as follows :-
  • Operation Risk - partial/total inability to provide normal banking services
  • Financial Risk - liquidity problem if customers withdraw funds
  • Reputation Risk - partial/total inability to provide good customer services


    The impact of Y2K issue if Alangka-Suka Group of Companies fail to be Y2K ready will be as follows :-
  • Services interruption
  • Losing customers/hotel guests to competitors
  • Financial loss due to inaccurate/incomplete billing resulting from system failure

    SCPS Group of Companies do not foresee any impact of Y2K issue if they are unable to achieve full Y2K readiness as they will then revert to their contingency plan which is to switch to a UNIX based merchant system which is certified by the vendor to be Y2K ready for processing card transactions at the front end.

    3. The exposure of your company and/or subsidiaries to third parties who have material business relationships with your company and subsidiaries in relation to the third parties' Y2K readiness.
The information technology ("IT") systems of ASB and the operating subsidiaries (other than those belowmentioned) are not linked to third parties' IT systems. Therefore, ASB and these subsdiaries have minimal exposure to the third parties' Y2K risks.

For UMG Group of Companies and Alangka-Suka Group of Companies, failures from external factors may arise as it is impossible to ensure that all third parties are Y2K ready. UMG Group's system may be infected by bad data from third parties and the third parties' systems. UMG Group is continuing to assess potential Y2K failure scenarios and is developing contingency plans to minimise the impact of identified potential failures.

The card transactions may not be fully transmitted to SCPS Group of Companies if the identified third parties fail to be Y2K ready. SCPS Group is working closely with their identified third parties to mitigate and minimise the impact of such exposure on their card transactions.

4. The total cost your company and subsidiaries have incurred or is expected to incur to address the Y2K issue.

Approximately RM3.3 million for ASB Group (including the approximate cost of UMG Group of RM2.3 million).

5. Describe your company and subsidiaries' contingency plans in relation to the Y2K issue to ensure continued operations.

Since ASB and the operating subsidiaries (other than those belowmentioned) are Y2K ready with virtually minimal exposure to third parties' Y2K risks, contingency plans are not necessary. Notwithstanding this, ASB and each of these subsidiaries will monitor the Y2K readiness on a continuous basis and contingency plans will be formulated if the needs arises.
UMG Group has formulated their contingency plans to ensure continued operations which includes the following :-

- Business Resumption Contingency Plan Overview
- Organisational Planning on Business Continuity
- Business Impact Analysis
- Contingency planning, measures and activating contingency plans
- Training and Testing including Update Recovery Plan & Procedures
- Y2K Pre-preparation
Alangka-Suka Group has also developed their contingency plan which include manual recording and processing systems to ensure continued operations.

SCPS Group is formulating a contingency plan whereby they will have a vendor certified card system for Y2K ready on standby. This will ensure their business continuity with minimal downtime. The contingency plan will also acts as their Disaster Recovery Plan when they are Y2K ready.
Subsidiary Description of Non Y2K System Criticality of system (critical or not critical) Status of readiness (at which stage & percentage of completion) Estimated date being
Y2K Ready		 Remarks
Synergy Card & Payment Services
Sdn Bhd Group of Companies		 Deluxe Data Card Management System on Tandem Himalaya K2002 mainframe Critical Final stage
60 % completed		 Before
30 September 1999		 _