News

ATM glitch gives residents of French town head start on euro

December 30, 2001

PARIS -- Residents of Saint-Julien de Concelles, a small town in western France, got a head start on withdrawing newly minted euro notes when an ATM malfunctioned and began issuing the currency ahead of its Jan. 1 launch, according to French news reports.

The glitch happened Dec. 29 at a branch of the Credit Mutuel bank, LCI television and France-Info radio reported. The machine was reportedly taken off-line on Dec. 30. The screen bore a message that apologized for being out of service.

"I came yesterday and withdrew euros," an ATM user told LCI television on Dec. 30. "That's why I came back today."

Credit Mutuel couldn't be reached for comment, since offices were closed over the weekend.

Cash machines in the 12 European Union countries adopting the euro aren't allowed to issue euros until after midnight New Year's Eve, when the currency becomes legal tender.

Most ATMs in France have been preprogrammed to stop issuing francs Jan. 1 and switch to cassettes filled with euros. In some countries, banks plan to shut down ATMs during the day Dec. 31 and manually refill their machines with the new European currency.

Separately, French Finance Minister Laurent Fabius said on Dec. 30 that 85 percent of France's ATMs were set to begin issuing euros Jan. 1. The remainder are to be euro-ready by Jan. 4, he said.

Fabius said that France's banks, post offices and shop owners had already received some 550 million euro notes and seven billion euro coins.