The financial system of the euro area after two years with the euro Let me now turn to the major changes of the financial system in the euro area after two years with the euro. Financial market integration The launch of the euro on 1 January 1999 was a historic event. Eleven national currencies were converted into one single currency overnight.
Having said this, monetary policy may wish to display more inertia – by which I mean caution or carefulness - in deploying policy instruments on those fronts where our knowledge is less developed. This applies to less conventional policy tools, of which the effects are still not fully appreciated, both in phasing-in and the phasing-out.