The 66th Annual General Meeting of the BIS

The sixty-sixth Annual General Meeting of the Bank for International Settlements was held in Basle today, 10th June 1996, under the chairmanship of W.F. Duisenberg, Chairman of the Board of Directors. The Meeting was attended by the Governors and other representatives of thirty-two 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 1996, totalling 58,618,207,736 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 operating surplus of 187,937,032 gold francs after deduction of costs of administration.

Following transfers of 3,529,792 gold francs to the Provision for Exceptional Costs of Administration and 3,073,940 gold francs to the Provision for Modernisation of Premises and Renewal of Equipment, the net profit for the year amounted to 181,333,300 gold francs.

Upon the recommendation of the Board of Directors, the Meeting decided to distribute a dividend of 260 Swiss francs per share in respect of the financial year ended 31st March 1996. This dividend will be payable on 1st July 1996 to shareholders whose names are registered in the books of the Bank on 20th June 1996. As shown in the Balance Sheet and the Profit and Loss Account, an amount of 53,333,300 gold francs has been set aside out of the net profit for this purpose.

The Meeting also decided to transfer 38,400,000 gold francs to the General Reserve Fund, 3,000,000 gold francs to the Special Dividend Reserve Fund and 86,600,000 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.