PRESS RELEASE
Setting-up of common market standards
8 July 1998
At its meeting on 7 July 1998 the Governing Council of the European Central Bank reached agreement on a number of issues related to the quotation and publication of reference exchange rates for the euro:
- No euro area-wide official fixing procedure for the euro involving the ESCB, i.e. the ECB and the NCBs, will be set up. However, since there is a need for the daily publication of reference exchange rates, the ECB will compute and publish reference exchange rates for the euro on a daily basis for the following currencies:
Furthermore, the Governing Council decided that:
AUD Australian dollar CAD Canadian dollar CHF Swiss franc CYP Cyprus pound CZK Czech koruna DKK Danish krone EEK Estonian kroon GBP Pound sterling GRD Greek drachma HUF Hungarian forint JPY Japanese yen NOK Norwegian krone NZD New Zealand dollar PLN Polish zloty SEK Swedish krona SIT Slovenian tolar USD US dollar - the reference rates will be based on the regular daily concertation procedure between central banks, which normally takes place at 2.15 p.m. (C.E.T.). The reference exchange rates will be published via electronic market information providers shortly after the concertation procedure has been completed;
- only one reference exchange rate (i.e. the mid-rate) per currency will be published, using the "certain" method (i.e. 1 euro = x foreign currency units);
- the number of significant digits used may vary between the currencies, reflecting market conventions. However, in most cases five significant digits will be used;
- the euro area NCBs may publish more comprehensive lists of euro reference exchange rates than that published by the ECB.
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