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The German workers pictured above are making cash registers at the Berlin
plant of the National
Cash Register Co. The factory is in custody of the Finance Division's Property
Control Branch.
to the Germans, and in implementation of
the bizonal agreement between the United
States and the United Kingdom, internal
financing of imports and exports for the
two zones was delegated to the Foreign
Trade Finance Office (German) in Frank-
furt. For all external financial transactions
a Joint Foreign Exchange Office is to be
established in Berlin, managed by German
personnel under United States-United King-
dom supervision.
The responsibilities of the Finance Divi-
sion for foreign exchange control extend
also to various other types of transactions.
Questions raised by the certificates of credit
and military payment orders held by former
prisoners of war in the UJnited States have
recently been settled. In addition, study is
being given to the problem of compensating
in marks for foreign exchange assets deliv-
ered under MG Law 53, and to problems
incident to controlling the financial opera-
tions of foreign concerns licensed to operate
in Germany.
One of the reasons why German industry
and consumer savings were so effectively
mobilized for war was the centralized control
exercised by banks, insurance companies, and
security extchanges. Accordingly, it has been
important for Military Government to devel-
op policies to decentralize financial insti-
tutions and reduce their control over industry.
With these objectives in mind the
Finance Division is continuously reviewing
present financial practices and policies, and
is considering the problems connected with
financial decentralization. In accordance
with the Potsdam Agreement, efforts have
been made to secure quadripartite agreement
on the uniform treatment of various monetary
and financial problems. In some instances
where such agreement could not be obtained,
Signal Corps Phofo