ABSTRACT
The shortage of capital, the most serious of Germany's economic difficulties on the stabilization of currency, was a consequence of the preceding period of depreciation. In the first phase the foreign loans came chiefly to the money market, where the disparity between German and foreign rates was the most striking and the investor's risks most limited. One of the first tasks of the banks after stabilization was to convert their accounts from depreciated marks into gold marks, in order to make a new beginning. The Mitteldeutsche Creditbank had for some time been surpassed in importance by the larger provincial banks, and had only retained its rank as a Berliner Grossbank on historical grounds. Since stabilization, the two overseas banks for South America in general—the Deutsche Ueberseeische Bank and the Deutsch-Südamerikanische Bank—have issued gold mark balance sheets which show their pre-war capital intact—in view of all the circumstances a considerable achievement.
