Report to the ... Zionist Congress and to the Council of the Jewish Agency in ... · 1935-08-01 · 8.1935 · p. Seite 113

Financial Institutions, A.—THE JEWISH COLONIAL TRUST, LTD. REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS PRESENTED TO THE SHARE¬ HOLDERS AT THE THIRTY-SIXTH ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING HELD AT THE REGISTERED OFFICES OF THE COMPANY, 10-12, WALBROOK, LONDON, E.C.4, ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 24th, 1934, AT 10 O'CLOCK IN THE FORENOON. The Directors beg to submit the Report and Audited Accounts for the year ending December 31st, 1933. The outstanding feature of the year under review was the decision taken by the Council to discontinue the banking business of the Trust as from January 1st, 1934, and to transfer it to> the Anglo-Palestine Bank, Ltd. The Anglo-Palestine Bank, Ltd., was formed in the year 1902 by the Trust as a subsidiary banking undertaking for the purpose of furthering the development of Jewish economic enterprise in Palestine. The sedulous pursuance of this aim in the post-war years, and especially since the destinies of Palestine were entrusted to the British Government under a Mandate of the League of Nations, has contributed appreciably to the present economic prosperity of that country. Subsequent to the formation of the Anglo-Palestine Bank, Ltd., and soon after the termination of the War, the Trust began to expand the banking business carried on by it outside Palestine. This expansion, either through affiliated interests or other channels, extended to its London business and to that in Eastern European countries. Within a few years a fair measure of development was achieved, which, however, in respect of the London business, demonstrated the difficulty of competing with the Joint Stock Banks with their large resources and innumerable branches. During the same period complexities of an economic as well as of a political order manifested themselves in many continental countries, with the result that, at the onset of the world crisis, the Trust, through the commitments of its clients, found itself involved to a large extent, owing to the causes and circumstances which have been referred to in previous reports. This being the case, and on carefully reviewing the situation, the Directors were forced to the conclusion that, in the uncertainties of the present-day economic situation, there was no prospect of the Trust being successful as a Bank in the Diaspora. As further development had become difficult, and as the Directors felt that there could be no justification for making further experiments, the ii3 8