A survey of ICC Bank customers has shown that only 4 per cent of firms believe Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) will be unfavourable for business. By contrast, 60 per cent say a single currency will be positive while 14 per cent see it as neutral.

The survey was carried out at the end of April among the bank's corporate, treasury and foreign exchange customers. It received more than 600 replies from businesses in manufacturing, financial services, tourism, property and the retail and wholesale sectors.

It found that a significant 22 per cent of businesses do not yet know what impact EMU will have. Britain still dominated trade for these companies and the fact that Ireland is joining the single currency without the UK was a crucial concern.

"The UK issue is of much greater concern than other aspects such as implementing the necessary systems changes or the costs of conversion," ICC said.

The survey found that the major benefits from EMU are seen as lower interest rates and the removal of the exchange rate risk.