Firms understand that they must manage not only business risks flowing from operational issues but also inherent reputational and legal risks. The century date change provided other benefits as well. In preparing for Y2K, financial institutions modernized and incorporated security products and procedures into their information systems. They also updated and tested contingency plans and backup facilities.
I was told that the barber had gone out of business because he had given up the idea of, “For Credit, Come Tomorrow.” I had then asked myself the question, “What if the principal business of an enterprise is not to give haircuts to people but to extend credit out of other people’s money?” Once I joined the Bank of Mauritius as an economist in the mid-1970s, I got a very wide angle view and a fullscale appreciation of the importance of capital for any enterprise, more specifically for financial institutions.