European Currency Unit

European Currency Unit (ECU)

An index of foreign exchange consisting of European currencies, originally devised in 1979. Also see Euro.

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European Currency Unit (ECU)

A weighted index of the currencies of ten European Economic Community members. For bonds denominated in ECUs, U.S. investors risk not only the possibility of interest-rate increases but also the chance that the dollar will rise relative to the ECU (that is, one ECU will buy fewer dollars). On the plus side, these securities provide investors with the opportunity of overseas diversification without reliance on the currency of a single country.

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European Currency Unit

Prior to the adoption of the euro, the ECU was set up as currency basket to provide a methodology for reconciling differing exchange rates between currencies who wished to participate in the single European currency. Established in the 1979, it was known as a "semi-pegged" system in which currencies were variable with respect to each other only within a certain range. After the introduction of the euro in 1999, the exchange rate mechanism was replaced by ERM II, which reconciles exchange rates for countries wishing to join the eurozone. See also: Exchange rate mechanism.