BIS Board appoints Masaaki Shirakawa as Vice-Chairman

The Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), meeting in Basel, Switzerland, yesterday elected Masaaki Shirakawa, Governor of the Bank of Japan, as its Vice-Chairman.

Mr Shirakawa has been on the Board since May 2008 and is Chair of the BIS Asian Consultative Council. His appointment as Vice-Chairman is for a period of three years from 10 January 2011.

Mr Shirakawa succeeds Hans Tietmeyer who had held the post from 1 July 2003 until he stepped down as a BIS director at end-December 2010. The BIS Board expressed their gratitude to Mr Tietmeyer for his eminent services to the BIS.