In May 1999, NaMax began work with the Euro preparations team at Lloyds TSB, the UK's largest bank. Working with the strategy teams on IT and business questions, a tour was undertaken to Austria and Germany to investigate how banks in those countries had tackled the issues surrounding the euro.

Some of the most important lessons of the 'first wave' banks were:

1) The project appears to work better with a single line of command.

2) Using an intranet is an ideal way of providing rapid internal communication.

3) In general, national (i.e. government) and central bank sources of information, advice and help appear to have been poor

4) Some banks have decided that they must convert internally early having observed that internal business imperatives make a late conversion problematic

5) Some banks have allowed customers to convert at their own pace and in their own way. They recognize that different industries and customers may have different requirements outside the control of the bank. Providing a high degree of flexibility is a good way of accommodating customers' as-yet undetermined requirements

6) The German banks recognize that there is a major danger of confusing amounts in DEM and those in EUR. This exists for many currencies, (GBP, IEP, NLG …) and the banks have taken pains to ensure that it is always clear which currency is being used.

7) Volumes of usage remain exceptionally low

8) Some banks have adopted a highly proactive approach to the currency, doing much more than was necessary for simple compliance. They believe that this will benefit them as adoption of the currency becomes more widespread.