To all, the following is from the Bank For International Settlements website profile and would like to know why it is considered that a "gold standard" does not exist albeit in a different form than the conventional model. Is the role that the BIS plays as the central bankers bank and their conversion and accounting method using gold so insignificant?
"The authorised share capital of the Bank is 1,500 million gold francs, divided into 600,000 shares of equal nominal value (2,500 gold francs per share). At the close of the financial year 517,125 shares were in issue and, in accordance with Article 7 of the Statutes of the BIS, they are paid up to the extent of 25% of their nominal value (625 gold francs per share). The amount of the paid-up capital appearing in the Balance Sheet of the BIS at 31st March 1997 thus stands at 323.2 million gold francs.
The gold franc of the BIS has a gold weight of just over 0.29 of a gramme of fine gold, which is identical with the gold parity of the Swiss franc from the foundation of the BIS in 1930 until September 1936 when, after a number of leading countries had left the gold standard, the gold parity of the Swiss franc was suspended. The BIS employs the gold franc solely as a unit of account for balance-sheet purposes, assets and liabilities in US dollars being converted into gold francs at the fixed rate of US$ 208 per ounce of fine gold (equivalent to 1 gold franc = US$ 1.94) and all other items in currencies being converted into gold francs on the basis of market rates against the US dollar.
When the Bank's initial capital was issued, the subscribing institutions were given the option of taking up the whole of their respective national issues of shares or of arranging for those shares to be subscribed by the public. As a result, part of the Belgian and French issues and the whole of the American issue are not held by the institutions to which they were originally allocated. In all, some 86% of the Bank's issued share capital is registered in the names of central banks, the remaining 14% being held by private shareholders. While all shares carry equal rights with respect to the annual dividend, private shareholders have no right to attend or vote at General Meetings of the BIS, since all rights of voting and representation are reserved for the central bank of the country in which the relevant national issue of shares was initially subscribed.
The following forty-one shareholding central banks have rights of representation and voting at General Meetings of the BIS: all the G-10 central banks - namely Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America - and the central banks of Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain and Turkey."
Thanks,
Don |
