Report to the ... Zionist Congress and to the Council of the Jewish Agency in ... · 1935-08-01 · 8.1935 · p. Seite 116

Council was called upon to decide whether in all the circumstances, and in view of its development and satisfactory position, the Anglo-Palestine Bank was not successfully fulfilling one of the main objects for which the Jewish Colonial Trust was created. This problem occupied the attention of both the Council and the Directors for some considerable time, and, after careful deliberation, and acting upon the best legal and other advice obtainable, the Council decided to transfer the banking business of the Trust to the Anglo- Palestine Bank, Limited. In virtue of a formal agreement between the contracting parties, the Anglo-Palestine Bank has taken over all the Liabilities of the Trust to its creditors on the basis of the Balance Sheet at December 31st, 1933, and in consideration of the Anglo-Palestine Bank assuming these liabilities, the Trust has handed over to the Anglo-Palestine Bank those of its assets which were readily realisable or in harmony with the general policy of the Anglo-Palestine Bank, and has, in further satisfaction of its obligation to the Anglo-Palestine Bank, executed a Debenture in favour of the Bank charged upon all the other assets of the Trust, the Trust to gradually liquidate sufficient of those assets to discharge the Debenture. In consequence of the transfer above referred to, the Trust has ceased its activities as a banking institution, and will continue for the time being to exist as a Holding Company free of liabilities to the public, but capable of discharging such of the other multifarious functions provided for in its Memorandum as in future it may be called upon to perform. While in the course of the year under review the Directors have given their main consideration to the fundamental problem of the transfer of the Trust's banking activities to its subsidiary, they were at the same time carefully engaged in taking stock of the Trust's general financial position apart from those assets represented by the investment in the Anglo-Palestine Bank, Ltd., the Workers' Bank, the Lodz Deposit Bank, and the Central Bank (Kowno). Different investigations and enquiries have been instituted and are still being pursued in countries where securities are held or clients are conducting business, with a view to facilitating the ultimate liquidation of various open positions. The conclusion at which the Directors have so far arrived in this respect is that, although certain assets which in the course of recent years have become frozen must in the process of their gradual liquidation result in a loss to' the Trust, yet on the other hand in certain cases there is every prospect of a satisfactory result being achieved owing to the recovery in economic conditions which has evidenced itself of late. The Directors are pleased to be able to report that the position of the Trust's main subsidiary, the Anglo-Palestine Bank, Ltd., is a most satisfactory one. The accounts for the year 1933 show a gratifying increase in the Bank's business. The figure of " Current, Deposit and Other Accounts " shows an increase of £2,286,000, as compared with the previous year. In the Balance Sheet at December 31st, 1933, this item stands at £4,563,000, and since that n6