Although only a very preliminary assessment is possible at this stage, figures currently available on the international use of the euro as an investment and financing currency seem to confirm this impression. 3  BIS Review 4/2000  With regard to the field of international debt securities issuance, in 1999 the euro was more widely used than its legacy currencies had been before 1998.
This fact has emerged from the data published by the Bank for International Settlements, which single out the truly international component of euro-denominated issues. According to this statistical source, in the first three quarters of 1999, euro-denominated gross international issues of money market instruments, bonds and notes accounted for 38% cent of total issues, just slightly below the share of the US dollar (41%).