Since 1 April 2003, the reporting currency of the BIS has been the Special Drawing Right (SDR) as defined by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). At 31 March 2009, one SDR was equivalent to USD 1.493.
Prior to this the Bank's reporting currency was the gold franc. The change in reporting currency was made to assist in managing the Bank's operations and economic capital efficiently and to enhance the transparency of its financial statements.
The SDR is the unit of account of the IMF and is also used in private contracts and international treaties and as the unit of account of other international organisations. The SDR is calculated from a basket of major trading currencies according to Rule O-1 as adopted by the Executive Board of the IMF on 30 December 2005 and effective 1 January 2006. As currently calculated, one SDR is equivalent to the sum of USD 0.632, EUR 0.410, JPY 18.4 and GBP 0.0903. The composition of this currency basket is subject to review every five years by the IMF to ensure that the currencies included in it are representative of those used in international transactions, and that the weights assigned to the currencies reflect their relative importance in the world's trading and financial system.
