Practical Issues Arising From The Euro

November 2000 Issue

(Each part of this document has been loaded as a separate PDF file; click on the appropriate heading to access the file. In order to view these documents you should use the latest Adobe Acrobat Reader (available free from Adobe's Website )

Title, Contents and Foreword (95k)
[For ease of download this file contains the Title Page, Contents List and Foreword.]

List of Internet Addresses

Overview (173k)
The Euro Markets Two Years On

A Growth of Issuance
B Integration of Trading and Settlement
C Diversification of Investment
D Consolidation of Market Firms
E Regulation and Supervision
F The City's Position as a Euro Centre

Chapter 1 (212k)
Euro Markets

A Monetary Policy Operations of the Eurosystem
Eurosystem refinancing operations
Collateral
Box: UK contribution to ECB Tier 1 list
B Foreign Exchange Market
The euro exchange rate
Trading volumes, liquidity and volatility
C Money Market
Unsecured money market
Secured money market
Euro commercial paper
Money market derivatives
D Debt and Equity Capital Markets
Euro-area government bond issuance
Non-sovereign euro-denominated bond issuance
Box: Freddie Mac
Fixed interest rate derivatives
Equity issuance
Equity index derivatives

Chapter 2 (169k)
Euro Infrastructure

A Payment Systems
Usage and performance of different payment systems
Outstanding wholesale payment issues
Commercial and retail cross-border payments
New payment system developments
Old national currencies, SSIs and account management
B Trading, Clearing and Settlement Systems
Introduction
Money and bond trading
Equities
Derivatives
Clearing
Box: A central counterparty model
Securities settlement
Box: Real-time payment in central bank money
C Regulatory and Legal Issues
The European Commission's Financial Services Action Plan
The Committee of Wise Men
The European Master Agreement

Chapter 3 (217k)
Completing the Changeover to the Euro in the First Wave and Greece

A The Final Changeover to the Euro in Retail Banking
Changeover work by individual banks
Box: Examples of the two different approaches to the final retail changeover
Changeover of the retail payment infrastructure
Box: Three different methods for handling euro in the retail payment infrastructure
Box: Base-currency conversion in retail payment systems
Practical questions about the end of the euro changeover
Box: Market practitioners' questions about the end of the transition period
B Introduction of Euro Notes and Coin
Production
Practical implementation of the changeover
Changeover costs
Issues for countries outside the euro area
C Preparations for the Changeover in Greece
Preparations in the financial sector
Changeover in the Bank of Greece

Chapter 4

(165k)
Preparations for Possible UK Entry

A UK Changeover Planning
Box: Use of the euro in the UK outside the financial sector
B Changeover in Sterling Financial Markets
Sterling financial markets: how might the changeover be handled?
C The Relationship Between Wholesale and Retail Financial Preparations
Box: A consultation document on wholesale/retail interdependencies in any changeover from sterling to euro