Note to private shareholders: Decisions by the Extraordinary General Meeting held on 8 January 2001

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).