611.6231/622
The Consul General at Berlin (Jenkins) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 28.]
Sir: With reference to this Consulate General’s despatch No. 245 of March 8, 1935,13 and previous data submitted by the Consulate General at Hamburg as well as this office in the matter of “Sonderkonten” (ASKI, or Auslaender-Sonderkonten fuer Inlandszahlungen), I have the honor to report to the Department new developments indicating a more lenient attitude by the Ministry of Economics in authorizing the establishment of such accounts.
For background it may be recalled in brief that “Sonderkonten” are those reichsmark accounts built up through payment in reichsmarks for exports to Germany. Out of these accounts, in turn, payment may subsequently be made for purchases of goods to be shipped abroad.
There have in general been two types of “Sonderkonten”. The first of these is that erected in the name of one firm which ships its own goods abroad, while the second is the general type of account which is established in the name of a bank and through which several firms on each side of the account may clear.
[Page 446]Certain American firms had received permission over the course of several months to open up accounts of the first type. While there have existed no general prohibitions for American banks or others to erect “Sonderkonten” of the general or second type on behalf of American interests, the restrictions as to their use were such that as a matter of practical utility the establishment of these accounts was made of questionable worth, with the result that American banks could hardly undertake to meet the conditions laid down.
The advantages of the accounts over barter or single compensation business are several. It may principally be pointed out that through the use of “Sonderkonten” no exact balance of each item of export and import is necessary; that is, several shipments from different sources abroad might be used to build up an account to purchase one single item here, or vice versa. Again, the accounts tend to eliminate the long delay of four to five weeks that is usually necessary to get action from the authorities in individual barter transactions; merchants are therefore given more of an opportunity to quote and bid without having to wait for official sanction.
The conditions set up by the German authorities in the case of the United States, however, have largely tended to nullify these advantages. The Reichsbank, viewing the United States as one of its only remaining important sources of foreign exchange, hesitated to approve of the policy of “Sonderkonten” toward which it was felt that the usual everyday trade might tend to gravitate, thereby reducing the receipts of foreign exchange usually obtained from German exports. On the other hand, the officials of the Ministry of Economics have long been anxious to foster the establishment of such accounts and at least to see if they could not be made to play a worth while part in fostering German exports.
Conditions such as the following, however, were nevertheless set down as prerequisites for the establishment of “Sonderkonten”. It will be noted that these mostly affect the so-called general accounts that might be made use of by banks. The holders of such accounts, for instance, have in the past only been able freely to purchase from the proceeds of these accounts, without special permission, goods for their own use or disposal. If it was desired to purchase goods for shipment to someone else, it was necessary to obtain a special permission in every individual case. In addition, it was the intention to permit the use of “Sonderkonten” only for the purchase of goods which might be considered as additional in character for the purposes of exports. That is, the German authorities desired to limit the use of these accounts to buying such goods as would not have been sold had not the accounts been erected; it was thus the authorities’ intention [Page 447] to protect their regular sales to America which are made in foreign exchange. The effect of these and other limitations were discussed in detail in my despatch No. 245 referred to above. It may in short be said that the result of the restrictions were such that no American banks were able to open central “Sonderkonten” through which several exporters in America and exporters in Germany might clear and balance their transactions.
After a six months’ discussion, a change in policy has now taken place and has resulted in the recent establishment of several important American accounts.
It appears that in general the holders of accounts will no longer have to specify the exact nature of each individual transaction to the Ministry of Economics in advance in order to export goods to third parties. In the second place, the Ministry of Economics, although reluctant to admit it, is in practice following the policy of relaxing the requirement as to the additional nature of any exports made through ASKI accounts in order to give the trade a chance to start on a firm basis.
As the matter now stands under the new policy, recognized American banks have the opportunity of applying for the establishment of ASKI accounts through which may be reasonably cleared transactions of a good number of parties on each side.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The increased number of permits for the erection of these accounts that have recently been granted in the favor of American interests thus reflects a more liberal policy on the part of the German authorities. It must be remembered, none the less, that each application continues to be treated by itself, there being no hard and fast set of rules that must be followed. The more favorable the conditions for the promotion of German foreign trade are, the more favorable, of course, will the authorities look upon the request. It would furthermore still appear that the greater the details are that may be presented to the authorities concerning the nature and amount of the projected commerce as well as the parties concerned, the better will be the official reaction. The fact, in addition, that several banks have up to the present received permits to erect accounts does not necessarily indicate that others can receive permissions even under similar provisions, for the authorities consider each case on what they believe to be its merits or deficiencies. A worth while beginning has nevertheless been made.
Any further information with regard to the development of this feature of German-American trade that is obtained and appears of interest to the Department will promptly be forwarded.
Respectfully yours,
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