Introduction of Euro & what it means to OANDA's currency tools

The new Euro arrives on January 1, 2002 and 12 of the European currencies will no longer be legal tender. These European currencies are: German Mark (DEM), Dutch Guilder (NLG), Irish Punt (IEP), French Franc (FRF), Austrian Schilling (ATS), Belgian Franc (BEF), Finnish Markka (FIM), Greek Drachma (GRD), Italian Lira (ITL), Luxembourg Franc (LUF), Portuguese Escudo (PTE), and Spanish Peseta (ESP).

The following document describes the changes that will take place in OANDA's currency conversion services effective January 1, 2002. Please carefully read this document and take the necessary steps to prepare your Web site and business applications that are using OANDA's foreign exchange services.

Online and Customizable Currency Tools:

All OANDA's online currency tools and services, including the Classic Currency Converter (FXConverter or 164 Currency Converter), and Travelers CheatSheet (FXCheatSheet), will continue displaying the old European currencies within their respective menu pages. This is to allow users to perform historical exchange requests for these currencies prior to January 1, 2002. For exchange rates after January 1, 2002, OANDA's services will automatically replace each European currency with Euro.

For example, on January 1, 2002, if you request an exchange rate between French Francs and US Dollars, you will automatically obtain the exchange rate between Euro and US Dollars. However, on (or after) January 1, 2002, you may obtain the historical exchange rate of French Francs to US dollars (for any date before January 1, 2002).

List of online currecy tools that will automatically change the European currencies to EURO:

• FXConverter or 164 Currency Converter
  • What do you need to change: no changes are required on your part. The turn over will automatically take effect on January 1, 2002.
• Customizable Currency Converter:
  • What do you need to change: if your default currencies are any of the above European currencies, you may wish to change them to Euro. If no changes are made, the exchange rate for Euro is automatically displayed for each request.
    To change your preferences, use your OANDA username and password to login to your account and change your default currencies.
• Quick Converter
  • What do you need to change: you may wish to remove the above European currencies from the menu page and replace them with one entry for Euro.
• FXCheatSheet or Travelers CheatSheet
  • What do you need to change: no changes are required on your part. The turn over will automatically take effect on January 1, 2002.
• Customizable Travelers CheatSheet
  • What do you need to change: if your default currencies are any of the above European currencies, you may wish to change them to Euro. If no changes are made, the exchange rate for Euro is automatically displayed for each request.
    To change your preferences, use your OANDA username and password to login to your acount and change your default currencies.
• FXTools: currency cross rate table or daily table
  • What do you need to change: change any of the above European currencies to Euro before January 1, 2002. If no changes are made to your preferences, the exchange rates for Euro will automatically be displayed.
    Login to your account to find out how to change your default currencies.
• FXDaily
  • What do you need to change: no changes are required on your part. The turn over will automatically take effect on January 1, 2002.
• FXHistory
  • What do you need to change: no changes are required on your part. The turn over will automatically take effect on January 1, 2002.
• FXPense
  • What do you need to change: if your home currency is set to any of the above European currencies, you may wish to change it to Euro after January 1, 2002.
• FXBrowser
  • What do you need to change: if your home currency is set to any of the above European currencies, you may wish to change it to Euro after January 1, 2002. On the first use of this service after January 1, 2002, FXBrowser will automatically set your home currency to Euro for any and all future use.
• FXTrends
  • What do you need to change: if you are displaying any of the above European currencies in your FXTrends table, you may wish to make the change from these currencies to Euro. If no change is made, the system will automatically display the Euro exchange rate for any of the old European currencies.
• FXCommerce: The above European currencies will no longer be available in the menu selection list of FXCommerce. Current users with their home currency set to any of the old European currencies will automatically obtain the exchange rate for Euro.
  • What do you need to change: if you are using FXCommerce as a currency converter to convert currencies between any of the above European currencies, you may wish to change the European currencies to Euro. The exchange rates for Euro will automatically be displayed for these currencies after January 1, 2002. If you are using FXCommerce to localize your online store or auction site, and your merchant currency is any of the above European currencies, you may wish to change it to Euro after January 1, 2002. If no change is made, the exchange rate for Euro will automatically be displayed.
• FXWap
• What do you need to change: no changes are required on your part. The turn over will automatically take effect on January 1, 2002.
• Free Currency Converters
• What do you need to change: no changes are required on your part. The turn over will automatically take effect on January 1, 2002.

OANDA Data Services:

OANDA Data Services will accept the old European currencies for historical requests and automatically convert the European currencies to Euro after January 1, 2002. The following services are considered OANDA Data Services:

• FXP Client Software or Currency Web Page:
  • What do you need to change: please contact OANDA today to obtain information on how to setup FXP client software (or the Currency Web package) to support the introduction of this new currency.
• FXML, FXCSV & FXASCII
  • What do you need to change: you may wish to remove the above European currencies from your list of currencies to be updated. If left unchanged, the exchange rates for Euro will be returned for these currencies.
• FXMail:
  • What do you need to change: you may wish to change your preferences before January 1, 2002 to replace these European currencies with Euro. On December 31, all European currencies will automatically be removed from your options and will be replaced with one entry for Euro. Login to your FXMail account to modify your options.

OANDA Currency Applications

• FXMap: Starting January 1, 2002, clicking or selecting any of the European countries will be equivalent in choosing Euro as the desired currency (home or base). Capital, Area, and population for these European countries will remain as-is to display the country's own capital, area and population respectively.
• What do you need to change: no changes are required on your part. The turn over will automatically take effect on January 1, 2002.
• FXPilot:
  • What do you need to change: You may wish to remove the above European currencies from FXPilot's menu page. To do this, please refer to FXPilot's Basic Features document under "Delete Conversion Rates". Any future versions of FXPilot will no longer support these currencies.
• FXAnalaysis: to be announced by December 15, 2001.
• FXGraph: to be announced by December 15, 2001.

If you have any questions regarding this document or the OANDA service you are currently using is not covered in this document, please contact us today.