The 68th Annual General Meeting of the BIS

Press release  | 
08 June 1998

BANK FOR INTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENTS, CH-4002 BASLE
PRESS COMMUNIQUÉ

8th June 1998

The sixty-eighth Annual General Meeting of the Bank for International Settlements was held in Basle today, 8th June 1998, under the chairmanship of Alfons Verplaetse, Chairman of the Board of Directors. The Meeting was attended by the Governors and other representatives of forty-four of the forty-five central banks which possess the right of representation and of voting at General Meetings. Also present at the Meeting were Governors and senior officials of other central banks associated with the BIS and 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 31st March 1998, totalling 62,450,174,630 gold francs, one gold franc being equivalent to 0.29032258... grammes of fine gold (or US$ 1.94149..., 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 259,160,599 gold francs after deduction of costs of administration.

On the recommendation of the Board of Directors, the Meeting decided to distribute a dividend of 300 Swiss francs per share in respect of the financial year ended 31st March 1998, it being noted that the dividend in respect of the 40 shares issued at various times during the financial year would be paid pro rata from the value date of the payment of the subscription price. The dividend will be payable on 1st July 1998 to shareholders whose names are registered in the books of the Bank on 20th June 1998. As shown in the Balance Sheet and the Profit and Loss Account, an amount of 52,549,459 gold francs has been set aside out of the net profit for this purpose.

The Meeting also decided to transfer 41,322,228 gold francs to the general reserve fund, 3,000,000 gold francs to the special dividend reserve fund and 162,288,912gold francs to the free reserve fund.

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