1960-1969

The BIS Chronology chronicles the main events relevant to the history of the Bank for International Settlements since it was created in 1929-30. Major financial, monetary and world events that are not directly related to the BIS, but that have had an impact on it, are listed in italics.

 

1960
Oct		Gold price in London temporarily reaches over $40 per ounce
1 Nov		Milton Gilbert takes up position as BIS Economic Adviser
11-12 Dec		Charles Coombs, Vice-President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, visits Basel on the occasion of the BIS Board meeting; from then on, Federal Reserve officials attend BIS meetings regularly
28 Dec		Bank of Spain becomes BIS member
1961
6-7 Mar		Revaluation of Deutsche mark and Dutch guilder by 5%
12 Mar		BIS Press communiqué on the close co-operation of central banks in the exchange markets: "Basel Agreement". Short-term credits granted to Bank of England to help support pound
Apr		OEEC Economic Policy Committee creates Working Party 3 (WP3) to study international payments system
Sep		OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) replaces OEEC
12 Nov		Start of the "gold pool": pooling of gold reserves by eight central banks aimed at stabilising the gold price through interventions in the London gold market
Dec		General Arrangements to Borrow (GAB) are approved. Origin of the Group of Ten (G10)
1962
Feb		Swap network arranged by Federal Reserve, BIS, and nine other central banks put into place
Feb		The gold and foreign exchange experts of the central banks participating in the "gold pool" begin bimonthly meetings at the BIS
7 Apr		"Van Campen Report" on EEC Monetary Coordination
24 Oct		IMF General Arrangements to Borrow (GAB) effective
1963
1 May		Gabriel Ferras succeeds Guillaume Guindey as BIS General Manager
5 May		IMF Managing Director Per Jacobsson dies in office; Pierre-Paul Schweitzer succeeds him
Sep		Study on the functioning of the international monetary system and its future needs for liquidity entrusted to the G10
Oct		BIS invited to participate in the G10 study group's work
1964
13 Apr		Formal establishment of the "Committee of the Governors of the Central Banks of the Member States of the EEC". The Committee decides to have its Secretariat and meetings at the BIS in Basel
Jun		BIS starts publication of Euro-currency market statistics in the BIS Annual Report (eight European countries reporting)
6 Jul		First meeting of the Committee of EEC Governors at the BIS
10 Aug		Publication of the G10 deputies' report on the functioning of the international monetary system and its future liquidity needs
Sep-Oct		Experts from the central banks of Canada, Japan, and Sweden are invited to participate in the regular Gold and Foreign Exchange Experts' meetings in Basel, turning it into a G10 Committee
Oct-Nov		Sterling exchange rate under pressure after the Labour election victory
26 Nov		Central banks' sterling support package of $3 billion announced
1965
4 Feb		De Gaulle press conference: plea for a return to a pure gold standard
1 Jul		France suspends co-operation in EEC context (including Committee of EEC Governors)
10 Sep		European central banks and BIS contribute $370 million to a new sterling support scheme; Bank of France abstains
29 Nov		Agreement between BIS and Federal Republic of Germany on financial settlement of Young Plan-related BIS investments in Germany
1966
29 Jan		France resumes co-operation at EEC level
13 Jun		First Group Arrangement to assist the UK in dealing with sterling balances concluded at the BIS
13 Sep		New sterling support package ($900 million) announced
Dec		For the first time in its existence, the "gold pool" ends the year with a sizeable deficit
1967
Jun		France withdraws from "gold pool"
Jul		Jelle Zijlstra appointed President of the BIS
14 Nov		BIS $250 million advance to enable the United Kingdom to repay IMF credit
18 Nov		Devaluation of pound sterling by 14.3%
23 Nov		$1.5 billion central bank support package announced to defend the new sterling parity; BIS contributes $150 million
29 Nov		IMF standby arrangement for the United Kingdom
1968
15 Mar		Gold crisis climax: closure of London gold market; Washington meeting of central banks, with IMF and BIS representatives, on gold crisis
17 Mar		"Gold pool" operations discontinued; central banks agree to refrain from buying and selling gold on the free market
30 Mar		G10 meeting in Stockholm (with BIS)
31 May		French decree re-establishing exchange controls
4 Jun		France draws $745 million from IMF
19 Jun		United Kingdom draws $1.4 billion from 1967 IMF standby arrangement
Jul		EEC Customs Union completed
10 Jul		Bank of France short-term credit agreements with central banks and BIS
9 Sep		Second Sterling Group Arrangement announced
20-22 Nov		G10 Ministers of Finance and central bank governors' meeting in Bonn
1969
9 Jun		BIS Extraordinary General Meeting amends Statutes: capital is increased from 500 million to 1.5 billion gold francs, and all references to the Young Plan are deleted
20 Jun		IMF approves $1 billion standby arrangement for United Kingdom
28 Jul		IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) introduced
8 Aug		French franc devalues 11.1% against dollar
19 Sep		IMF approves $985 million standby arrangement for France
28 Sep		Deutsche Mark floated
24 Oct		Floating of the DM rate ends with 9.3% revaluation

1950-1959

1970-1979