Brussels, 18/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - According to a European Commission survey of banking policy for the changeover to the Euro, nearly 83% of automatic telling machines (ATM) or cashpoints will be frontloaded with Euro on 1 January 2002, and 98% by the end of the first week of 2002. The Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, Pedro Solbes, said in a press release that he found the fact that the banking sector had followed the Commission's recommendations for the changeover very encouraging. He added that although efforts were still needed in some countries and by some banks, he was certain that they would be successful if they worked together.
According to the survey, 73% of banks will be dispensing small denominations (EUR 5 and 10) in their ATMs. In France, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, the surveyed banks will supply small denominations during the first weeks of 2002, but banks in Greece, Belgium and Finland are not planning to do this.
Only banks in Ireland, Germany, Spain, France and Greece have followed the Commission's recommendations to the letter by converting their customers' cash free of charge and without restriction. All Austrian banks and some banks in Portugal, Finland, Luxembourg and Italy will set a ceiling. Dutch banks will only exchange currency by means of a deposit in a bank account.
Almost 83% of the banks are not planning to levy charges on national currency handed in by shopkeepers. On average, 48% of European banks are planning to front load their commercial clients with Euro but there are significant differences between Member States and even within the same Member State: almost 70% of banks are planning to do so in Austria, compared with fewer than 15% in Spain and Finland.
The survey will be published in EUROPE/Documents, and it is also available on the internet: http: //europa.eu.int/comm/economy_finance/document/euro/survey0901en.pdf.