January 27, 2002
HANNOVER, Germany -- NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) has become an accredited "Euro 2002 Campaign" Partner of the European Central Bank (ECB) and will work with the ECB to inform audiences and raise awareness about practical aspects of the euro.
At the same time, NCR expressed concern that some institutions are not as far advanced in their preparations for the changeover in comparison with Year 2000 (Y2K) planning 12 months earlier.
The first euro notes will come into general circulation in January of 2002. A total of 14,250 billion bank notes will be produced before January 1, 2002. The self-service channel will be the primary channel for getting euro notes into circulation, since European customers use ATMs for 70 percent of their cash requirements.
According to NCR, there are approximately 200,000 ATMs in the countries converting next year, and around 50 percent of those are NCR machines.
As an official ECB "Euro 2002 Campaign" partner, NCR says it will work to provide customers with a source of accurate and timely information to help ensure the smooth introduction of euro banknotes and coins.
Speaking today at the CeBIT industry trade show, Simon Rubin, NCR vice president, marketing, EMEA, said, "NCR has been working for a number of years to enable a seamless changeover. Rather than simply supplying cassettes, we are able to offer our customer a complete tailored solution. Our engineers will manage the whole changeover process, as necessary."