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 could be turned into cash. They held loans at call and short notice, which are probably loans granted to bill-brokers and stockbrokers in the City of London, which, in ordinary times, a bank is easily able to call in. They also held a large portfolio of bills discounted, that is to say, bills of exchange or Treasury Bills which are, in most cases, a promise to pay issued by other banks or leading London finance houses, or merchants of established reputation, or the British Treasury, falling due at various dates, and quite certain in the ordinary course of business to be met at the date of maturity. They also hold investments in British Government and other securities, which, in most cases, could only be turned into cash by being sold on the Stock Exchange at the best prices they would fetch. In the case of most of them there is a practical certainty of being able to sell rapidly, and at a price near or above the price at which they stand in the books of the banks which held them.

The largest item on the asset side of the balance sheet consists of the loans and advances to customers, through which the banks of this country perform their function of directly assisting British trade and production, by supplying credit to customers in order to finance the enter-