Slow march in America

When the International Swaps & Derivatives Association (Isda) held an open meeting in London this spring, to help derivatives users prepare for the advent of the euro, hundreds of bankers, investors and corporate executives swarmed to the event. But a similar roadshow in New York, on a sultry July day, drew fewer than 20 participants.

As the event got under way at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's Times Square headquarters, bankers grumbled to each about the poor attendance. Was it the weather, or the impending July 4 holiday, they asked each other. "I don't think we can blame this on Emu," one Morgan Stanley banker groused to another, who replied: "Why not? We blame everything else on it."

Americans may view Emu as some distant and mysterious event that they don't understand and, as a result, view suspiciously. It seems they have largely ignored the impending change to Europe's financial landscape. It...