IX. Loans, Discounts and Investments

a) The Bank shall make no loans or discounts having a maturity at the time the advance is made, in excess of three (3) months.

b) The Bank shall discount no notes or bills bearing less than three (3) names of known solvency, except that for one name there may be substituted collatéral in the form of warrants relating to bona-fide commercial transactions or to goods. Such définition shall not be taken as including any notes issued or bills drawn in financial transactions or secured by stocks, bonds or other investment securities but may include Treasury Bills of the German Government.

Plan des Experts (Uapport Daives). 789

c) Tbe Bank may, with the spécial authorisation of the General Board voting in the conditions laid down in paragraph (i) of Section VII, accept the long term bonds of the Reich as collatéral for loans with raaturities not exeeeding three (3) months, if the ioans bear two (2) reponsible names, in addition to the collatéral, one of thèse naraes being the name of a commercial bank doing business in Germany. Provided: that loans eollaterally secured by the long term securities of the Reich shall never exceed the amount of the Bank's net paid-in capital and surplus, except by the unanimous vote of ail the members of the General Board save one.

d) The Bank shall make no loans or advances on the security of real cstate, mining property, oil property or stock shares; nor on the security of Government obligations, except as otberwise provided for in this plan. The Bank may, however, take mortgages or titles to such property, stock shares and Government debt bonds as additional security for loans previously made in good faith in accordance with provisions herein made.

e) Subject to the provisions contained in Article a, the Bank shall make no loans, discounts or other advances, directly or indirectly, to the German Reich, any German State, Communes or other German Governmental units, or to any foreign Government or Governmental units, nor shall it invest its funds in the bonds, debentures or other debt of any such Governmental unit, except as otherwise specifically authorised by its constitutive law. The deposit accounts and current accounts in the Bank of the German Reich, the German States, the German Communes or other German Governmental units, shall never show a débit balance.

f ) The Bank shall not accept time bills of exchange drawn against it.

g) The Bank may not buy or sell merchandise, produce, real estate or stock shares of other corporations for its own account.

h) The restrictions contained in the preceding paragraph shall not operate to prevent the Bank from buying such real estate, equipment and supplies as it needs for its own banking business, or from selling such property as may corne into its possession in connection with the guarantee of statutory loans. Moreover, the Bank shall not be prevented, by the above restrictions, from buying in property where it needs to do so, in order to protect itself in the collection of statutory loans previously made in good faith and not paid at maturity.