Processing BCD and Signed Integer Fields with Python

[Chris Lada]

We have been receiving record/field-based information from a data provider.
Some of the fields are BCD (Binary Coded Decimal), and some are signed
integer. The data originates from a mainframe/Cobol(?) system. The record
layouts have definitions like "PIC S99999" (signed integer), and "PIC S99999
Comp-3" (BCD). Has anyone had to process this sort of data with Python ?
Can Python handle this sort of data type ?  Anyone have suggestions on how
to approach this problem ?

Thanks,
Chris