The Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders of Banque Cantonale Vaudoise

The Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders of Banque Cantonale Vaudoise, held this morning at the Palais of Beaulieu in Lausanne, was attended by 1043 shareholders representing 6,718,463 shares or 79.15% of the capital. It approved the Board of Directors' proposals to amend the Bank's Articles of Association and appoint new board members.

The amendment of the Bank's Articles of Association dealt with several important issues, notably the conversion of bearer shares into registered shares, which is due to take place in the first half of 2003, and the limitation of shareholder registration rights to 5% of the Bank's share capital. Another objective of the Extraordinary General Meeting was to adapt the articles to the amendments the Cantonal Government (Grand Conseil) brought to the law governing BCV last June, in particular the reorganisation of the Bank's governing bodies. The new law governing BCV provides for the dissolution of the Banking Committee and a reduction in the number of board members.

After the articles (which had been previously approved by the Cantonal Government) were adopted, the Meeting of Shareholders appointed three new members to the Board, namely Mrs. Beth Krasna, Acting Managing Director of Albert-Inc. SA, Lausanne, Mr. André Pugin, Acting Managing Director of APCO Technologies, Vevey, and Mr. Jean-Luc Strohm, Manager of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Canton of Vaud, Lausanne.

A tribute was paid to the 13 outgoing members for their commitment to the Bank as well as to Mr. Alain Hirsch, who assumed the chairmanship of the Board at a particularly difficult period.

The amended articles, as well as the appointments to the Board of Directors, will take effect immediately.

Lausanne, 30 October 2002

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