Palestine]
(vi) Deutsche Orient Bank. Branch at Aleppo; the Branches at bank was established at Constantinople in 1906 (see Turkey in Europe, No. 16 of this series, p. 134).
(vii) Deutsche Palästina Bank. Beirut, Damascus, Gaza, Haifa, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Nablus, Nazareth, Tripoli. This company, which dates from 1899, and has shown much activity, has important branches at Berlin and Hamburg. A fusion with the Deutsche Orient Bank is to take place after the war.
Besides these companies, there are numerous private banks in the large towns, especially Beirut and Åleppo, which do a considerable amount of minor discounting, besides undertaking deposits and current accounts. In Aleppo, for example, eight or nine firms of good standing are to be found, with a score or more of less solid establishments.
The State-supported Banque agricole, which has a number of branches, exists for the special end of making advances to cultivators for agricultural purposes. Credits are given at the rate of 6 per cent. on suitable security. Facilities for credit were appreciably extended by a law of 1916, which removed previous restrictions as to the amount and term of loans, and legitimised advances on grain, besides including in the bank's sphere of operations the purchase and sale of land, agricultural implements, animals, and seed.
Extent and methods of business.—The volume of banking business, notwithstanding the number and diffusion of the establishments engaged, is not very great; for the public companies it has been estimated that the amount involved. including deposits and current accounts, ranged before the war from £T3,000,000 to £T4,500,000. The united working capital of banks of all kinds at Aleppo was put in 1913 at 22,000,000 frs., and their annual profit at about 2,000,000 frs. Such figures indicate a comparatively low stage of development. The banks take little part in financing companies or taking up concessions.
