1. On 20 January 1930, the Governments of Germany, Belgium, Great Britain, Italy, Japan and Switzerlad concluded at The Hague, the Convention respecting the Bank for International Settlements. The Convention included the Constituent Charter and the Statutes of the Bank (hereafter the Convention, the Constituent Charter and the Statutes of the Bank will be referred to collectively as the "Constituent Instruments"). The Bank for International Settlements (hereafter the "Bank" or "BIS") was organized, by Article 1 of the Statutes, as "a Company limited by shares" and its objects, according to Article 3, were