Organisation, governance and activities

The BIS focuses on promoting cooperation among central banks and other financial authorities, and on providing financial services to central bank customers. To further these ends, during the year the BIS acted to:

• Bring the BIS more into line with its global role. With a view to further strengthening central bank cooperation, three additional members were elected to the BIS Board of Directors: Guillermo Ortiz, Governor of the Bank of Mexico, Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank, and Zhou Xiaochuan, Governor of the People's Bank of China.
• Enhance BIS understanding of policy issues important to central banks and supervisors in the Asia-Pacific region. In September 2006, in close consultation with Asian and Pacific members of the BIS, a three-year Asian research programme got under way to deepen the Bank's understanding of key monetary and financial issues in the region.
• Sharpen the focus on fostering the good governance of central banks as public policy institutions. Last year, the BIS set up a Central Banking Studies unit and increased its support for the Central Bank Governance Forum, which includes the Central Bank Governance Group and a Central Bank Governance Network. This reflects central banks' growing interest in organisational, governance and strategic management issues.

With respect to the Bank's financial statements, the balance sheet totalled SDR 270.9 billion (USD 410 billion) at the end of March 2007. Nearly SDR 222 billion (USD 336 billion) of official foreign currency reserves are deposited with the BIS, around 6% of the world's total. The Bank reported a net profit of SDR 639.4 million (USD 968.7 million) for the financial year 2006/07.