New President of the BIS

At its meeting on 8 February 1999 the Board of Directors elected Urban Bäckström, Governor of Sveriges Riksbank, to the positions of Chairman of the Board and President of the Bank for International Settlements for a period of three years commencing on 1 March 1999.

Urban Bäckström will succeed Alfons Verplaetse, who will be retiring as Governor of the National Bank of Belgium at the end of February 1999 and whose term of office as Chairman of the Board and President of the Bank for International Settlements expires on the same date.

At its meeting today the Board of Directors expressed to Alfons Verplaetse its deep gratitude for the outstanding services he has rendered to the Bank during his ten years as a member of the Board, including the last twenty months as Chairman of the Board of Directors and President of the Bank.