Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations
INTERVIEW WITH M. DELATOUR, GENERAL DIRECTOR OF THE CAISSE DES DÉPÔTS ET CONSIGNATIONS[182]
Q. We should like to know the general character of the business conducted by your institution.
A. The mission of the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations is to receive, hold, and repay all private funds intrusted to the State either voluntarily or under compulsion.
Q. You say that you also do an insurance business. What do you mean by that?
A. The insurance office, managed by the Caisse, issues policies of life insurance, insurance payable after death or in case of accident, like any private insurance company. As regards accidents to employés while at work, it insures only against such accidents as cause death or permanent total or partial incapacity for work.
Q. Is this a corporation?
A. The Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations is not a corporation. It is a state organism, but, while charging the Caisse with the management of all private funds, which may be turned over to it by the State under different headings, the legislature bestows upon it full autonomy, in order to avoid even a semblance of possible confusion in the handling of private moneys with the handling of public moneys. Moreover, it has placed the Caisse under the direct supervision and the guaranty of the legislative powers.
Q. What is done with the profits realised from the business?
A. Profits earned by the Caisse on deposits of the savings banks are turned over to the reserve and guaranty fund of savings banks.
Q. What restrictions govern the investment of your funds?
A. As long-term investments, we make loans to departments and municipalities, sometimes to the State; we take government rentes, treasury securities, guaranteed railroad bonds, etc. As short-term investments, we take treasury bonds, bonds of the Monte de Piété of Paris (municipal pawnshop), etc. Finally, we keep large sums in cash, either in our own vaults or to our credit in the treasury and the Bank of France, which, for that purpose, keep account currents on demand for us.
Q. You do not, as a rule, invest in mortgages?
A. No; owing to the difficulty in disposing of such investments.
Q. You purchase no bills and do no commercial business whatever?
A. No; that rôle is played by the Bank of France. Sometimes we make advances on securities, but only on treasury bonds.
Q. Your organisation is quite unique in the world, is it not?
A. There is nothing like it in England or America, but there are similar institutions in Belgium and Italy, for instance. In France this institution is highly appreciated by the lawmakers, who steadily increase its functions, and the number of laws and regulations governing the Caisse is ever growing.
Q. It is customary in France for savings banks to carry their reserve with this establishment?
A. The savings banks are bound to turn over to us all they receive from their depositors, except such sums as may be required to meet immediate demands.
Q. Then, as a matter of fact, this is a central bank for the savings banks of France?
A. Precisely.