France's largest listed bank, BNP Paribas, is hiring 5,000 students to guide its six million customers through the switch to the euro at the start of 2002.

Many of the Irish banks are also taking on extra staff, albeit on a far smaller scale.

The so-called "euro angels" will start work at BNP Paribas's 2,000 branches around France in mid-December to answer customers' questions about the single currency, which will be introduced on January 1st , 2002.

They will keep watch until February 17th, when all French francs are scheduled to be taken out of circulation. Potential "euro angels" must have finished secondary school to qualify for the job.

BNP Paribas said it also was hiring 2,500 temporary workers to help it handle currency exchange operations and distribute euro starter-kits ahead of the handover.

The bank said a survey found that 52 per cent of French people were worried about the switch to the euro, compared with 32 per cent who declared themselves confident.

The Republic's three largest banks all plan to recruit staff to deal with the logistics of the changeover.

AIB has calculated that it requires an additional 200 staff in the months approaching the end of this year, with many of these staying on well into 2001.

Mr Pat O'Reilly, central operations executive with AIB, said yesterday that the bank was "continuously recruiting" according to business needs.

Meanwhile, Bank of Ireland will recruit 300 temporary staff for periods varying between three and six months.

Ulster Bank has yet to confirm numbers for the additional staff it will require for the changeover period.