Banco de Chile Announces Proposed Dividend Payment

SANTIAGO, CHILE--(Marketwire - January 29, 2010) - Banco de Chile (NYSE: BCH), a full service Chilean financial institution, today notified local Chilean regulatory authorities of the following material event:

The Board of Directors of Banco de Chile, during its session held on January 29, 2010, has decided to disclose to the general public as a material event its resolution to call an Ordinary Shareholders' Meeting to be held on March 25, 2010 with the objective of proposing, among other matters, the distribution of a dividend per Banco de Chile share of $3.496813.

In addition, the Board of Directors also resolved to schedule an Extraordinary Shareholders Meeting to be held on March 25, 2010, before the Ordinary Shareholders' Meeting, in order to amend Banco de Chile by-laws for the introduction of a transitory provision defining the "distributable net income" so as to comply with the agreement dated November 8, 1996, executed between the Central Bank of Chile (Banco Central de Chile) and SM Chile S.A., pursuant to Law N° 19.396.

Contact Information: Contact: Pablo Mejia Ricci Head of Investor Relations Banco de Chile 251 Ahumada, 1st floor Santiago, Chile +562 653 3554 pmejiar@bancochile.cl