The fate of the euro was uppermost in the minds of delegates at the International Cash and Treasury Management conference held by EuroFinance at the end of September. According to an interactive poll, 57% of the finance executives at the conference say their company is prepared for a country exiting the euro, although only a third believe that there will be fewer countries in the euro by this time next year.

Patricia Greenfield, head of treasury operations at AstraZeneca, said the pharmaceutical company has put in place a eurozone task force and taken measures including setting up contingency bank accounts in legacy currencies in case the need arises.

Jörg Bermüller, head of cash and risk management at Merck KGaA, another pharmaceutical company, said his company launched a new IT project to ensure its systems could handle new currencies and the respective exchange rates if necessary. Bermüller said that while Merck is prepared for a breakup of the euro, he is optimistic that the common currency will survive.