The biggest step the EU wishes to take towards one country is to create a single economic policy presided over by a central bank. The Bank of England would become an outpost of Frankfurt. Preparing for the single currency scheme is destroying jobs and raising taxes across western Europe but proponents say we must press on more rapidly, we must advance into the teeth of the gunfire. They say the trouble goes to show that the markets are unruly and unhelpful, so they must be overrun. The single currency, we are told, would remove exchange risk for business and increase trade and prosperity.
Banks charm more for money transmission than for switching currencies.
They might try to replace some of the lost foreign exchange commission with higher transmission charges. For most British businesses, the single currency would be all cost and no benefits. Most businesses serve a local or national market. There would be no foreign exchange savings, but they would have to re-equip to handle the new currency. Every slot machine and cash dispenser would need modifying.