JOINT reports from the Bank of France and financial groups conclude that French bond, currency and stock markets must start using the single currency - the euro - as soon as possible after EMU starts in 1999.

The reports, which detail the preparations Paris must make for monetary union, also call for an expansion of the market in Ecus, the European basket currency, before 1999.

The Bank of France's role contrasts with the situation in London, Europe's largest financial centre. The Bank of England has refused to establish a steering committee to prepare the City for monetary union because of political uncertainties about British participation. In Dublin, the recent ESRI report warned that EMLY could bring job losses to the financial sector and threaten the bond and money markets.

Mr Herve Hannoun, deputy governor of the Bank of France, said "a plan of action" would boost Paris's role as a top class financial centre.

The reports address the legal aspects of EMU, monetary policy and the financial markets.

The report on the stock market urges that the changeover to the euro should occur on January 4th, 1999, and calls for special currency convertors to help brokers. The capital market report argues that the ECU bond market should be expanded in 1998 to ease liquidity problems when EMU starts.

This move could be boosted by a separate agreement reached in London yesterday by the industry bodies for international bond and derivative markets on a standardised legal clause that could be inserted into ECU contracts to safeguard their value under EMU. In recent months the ECU market has been undermined by legal uncertainties about monetary union.