Annual General Meeting: Decisions Approved

The sixty-ninth Annual General Meeting of the Bank for International Settlements was held in Basel today, 7 June 1999, under the chairmanship of Urban Bäckström, Chairman of the Board of Directors. The Meeting was attended by the Governors and other representatives of member central banks and other central banks associated with the BIS as well as representatives of many international institutions.

The Meeting received the Annual Report of the Bank, which had been distributed in the four official languages (English, French, German and Italian). It approved the audited Balance Sheet at 31 March 1999, totalling 66,237,077,050 gold francs, one gold franc being equivalent to 0.290 322 58 ... grammes of fine gold (or US$ 1.941 49 ..., converted at US$ 208 per ounce of fine gold). The Meeting also approved the Profit and Loss Account for the financial year to that date, which showed a net profit of 303,618,800 gold francs after deduction of costs of administration.

On the recommendation of the Board of Directors, the Meeting decided to distribute a dividend of 320 Swiss francs per share in respect of the financial year ended 31 March 1999. The dividend will be payable on 1 July 1999 to shareholders whose names are registered in the books of the Bank on 20 June 1999. As shown in the Balance Sheet and the Profit and Loss Account, an amount of 57,366,159 gold francs has been set aside out of the net profit for this purpose.

The Meeting also decided to transfer 49,250,528 gold francs to the General Reserve Fund, 3,000,000 gold francs to the Special Dividend Reserve Fund and 194,002,113 gold francs to the Free Reserve Fund.

The members of the Board were discharged from all personal responsibility in respect of the past financial year.