On 8 January 2001, an Extraordinary General Meeting of the BIS decided to restrict the right to hold shares in the BIS exclusively to central banks and approved the mandatory repurchase of all 72,648 BIS shares held by private shareholders as of that date against payment of CHF 16,000 per share. Copies of the Notes to Private Shareholders describing the transaction can be accessed via links under "Related information".
Pursuant to Article 54 of the BIS Statutes, disputes concerning the interpretation or application of the Statutes, in particular between the Bank and its shareholders, must be referred for final decision to the Hague Arbitral Tribunal. In 2001, three former private shareholders challenged the shares withdrawal by initiating proceedings before the Tribunal.
The Tribunal proceedings consisted of two phases.
The Tribunal's decisions and further information relating to the arbitration can be found on the Permanent Court of Arbitration's website.
On 22 September 2003, the Hague Arbitral Tribunal made public its final decision regarding the mandatory withdrawal of all 72,648 shares of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) formerly held by private shareholders (see BIS press release). The BIS informed all registered former private shareholders of this decision by letter dated 13 October 2003, copies of which are available here.
Related information:
On 25 November 2002, the Arbitral Tribunal in The Hague made public its decision regarding the mandatory withdrawal of all 72,638 shares of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) formerly held by private shareholders (see BIS press release). The BIS informed all registered former private shareholders of this decision by letter, copies of which are available here.
Related information:
The Extraordinary General Meeting of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) held on 8 January 2001 decided, in accordance with the recommendation of the Board of Directors, to restrict, for the future, the right to hold shares in the BIS exclusively to central banks and accordingly approved the mandatory repurchase by the BIS of all BIS shares held by private shareholders, against payment of compensation of CHF 16,000 for each share (equivalent to some USD 9,950 at the USD/CHF exchange rate on 8 January 2001).
The proposal to effect such a repurchase was described in a Note to Private Shareholders dated 15 September 2000 which was sent to each private shareholder registered in the books of the BIS and is available on the Bank's website www.bis.org.
Enclosed is a second set of documents including a note to private shareholders providing details on the transaction; the old and the amended texts of the statutory provisions relevant to the withdrawal of privately held BIS shares are annexed to that note.
Attached to the document sent to private shareholders is a declaration and payment instruction form (not available on the BIS website).
Related information:
The Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), an international organisation headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, proposes to restrict, in future, the right to hold shares of the BIS exclusively to central banks (which already hold 100% of the voting rights and 86.27% of the property rights in those shares). This measure is intended to enable the BIS to pursue better its objectives of promoting international monetary and financial cooperation.
To this end, the Board has decided to call an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) to be held on 8 January 2001 with a view to amending the Statutes of the BIS so as to exclude private shareholders against payment of compensation of CHF 16,000 per share. As soon as the EGM has approved the Board's proposals, the private shareholders registered in the books of the BIS will be sent a further note with all practical details concerning the surrender of share certificates and payment of compensation.
The purpose of the present note is to provide the Bank's private shareholders with the following information regarding the transaction:
In addition, the following is annexed to this note:
Related information: