You can expect to be bombarded with offers of new services and products relating to the beginning of European Monetary Union and the official introduction of the euro on January 1st, 1999. Perhaps more surprising is that it has taken most of the financial institutions so long to take advantage of the increasing interest by ordinary people in being "euro-ised" - as one financial adviser described it to Family Money last week.

Corporate Ireland has been gearing itself up, to varying degrees, for the advent of EMU, but now the main retail banks are also starting to market euro accounts to their private customers. The latest is National Irish Bank which is launching its second limited Euro Countdown Deposit Account, which will certainly appeal to depositors looking for competitive short-term rates at a time when interest rates are coming down.

The NIB account is a transition one only, in which interest is guaranteed for four months at 4.25 per cent (CAR 4.31 per cent) for sums between £15,000 and £100,000. NIB Tailored Home Loan customers can enjoy this rate for amounts as low as £5,000, though the purpose of that mortgage account is to accelerate your mortgage repayment term, thereby saving the cost of future mortgage interest payments, which are still in excess of 4.25 per cent for the average NIB home-loan customer.

All the main banks are expected to start providing customers with euro equivalent statement information from the new year and anyone who wants to open a euro account will be able to do so, though you should inquire about the cost of operating such an account beforehand.