BANKING Norges Bank (The Bank of Norway), which was founded on June 14, 1816, has the exclusive right of note issue. It is a joint-stock bank, but its share- holders have no voting right. The chairman of the board of directors (the director-in-chief of the bank) and the vice-chairman hold office by royal appointment; the other members (the share- holders’ committee and the board of directors) are elected by the Storting. The chairman of the board of directors is Mr. N. Rygg, Director-in- Chief. Norges Bank has twenty provincial branches. The share-capital is 35,000,000 Kroner, fully paid. Total reserves at December 31, 1932 were 18,500,000 Kroner. Pursuant to the Act relating to Norges Bank of April 23, 1892 with supplementary acts, the Bank is under the obligation to redeem its notes at their face value, but under conditions of an extraordi- nary nature (e.g. war, war peril, or serious financial crises) the Bank may be exempted from this duty. In pursuance hereof the Bank was exempted from paying gold against surrender of 115