The bug infests most elements of everyday life: electricity, gas and water supplies, telephone services, the banking system, health services, transport and industry are all at risk if it is not caught in time.

ECONOMIST: The bill for the millennium bug keeps going up

The slower Bacs payment system - which underlies telephone and internet banking services - has also failed to show any trend of savers shifting their money.

BBC: 'No floods' of switching savers