The 67th Annual General Meeting of the BIS

The sixty-seventh Annual General Meeting of the Bank for International Settlements was held in Basle today, 9th June 1997, under the chairmanship of W.F. Duisenberg, Chairman of the Board of Directors. The Meeting was attended by the Governors and other representatives of forty-four 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 1997, totalling 66,792,964,322 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 203,289,449 gold francs after deduction of costs of administration.

Following transfers of 3,000,000 gold francs to the provision for exceptional costs of administration and 6,000,000 gold francs to the provision for modernisation of premises and renewal of equipment, the net profit for the year amounted to 194,289,449 gold francs.

On the recommendation of the Board of Directors, the Meeting decided to distribute a dividend of 280 Swiss francs per share in respect of the financial year ended 31st March 1997, it being noted that the dividend in respect of the 44,000 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 1997 to shareholders whose names are registered in the books of the Bank on 20th June 1997. As shown in the Balance Sheet and the Profit and Loss Account, an amount of 48,780,923 gold francs has been set aside out of the net profit for this purpose.

The Meeting also decided to transfer 41,018,778 gold francs to the general reserve fund, 3,000,000 gold francs to the special dividend reserve fund and 101,489,748 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.